About US
Tim
I have a passion for cars of all kinds but especially British classics. As a kid growing up in the 60's & 70's so many of the cars on our roads which influenced me were British and that has now all changed. The UK has only specialist car makers left while other countries have held onto their car makers. I find that rather sad. So many names have been consigned to history, Triumph, Wolseley, Austin, Morris, Rover, Hillman to name a few. Children today will perhaps never realise what we once had in Britain.
My Early Influences
At Junior School I remember drawing and colouring cars as part of a project. My influence came from the Ladybird book of cars from the school library.
My teacher, Mr Betts, was very encouraging of my efforts, I think it was because it kept me quiet!! I'm not sure why but I do remember copying the Jensen Interceptor into my exercise book.
Another early influence came in the form of Top Trumps collector's cards. I remember playing these on long afternoons when it was too wet to go outside and being fascinated by the pictures of the cars, which were typically brouchure shots.
Painting Now
In the early 90's I came across a book about sports cars in my local book shop. It is called "World Sports Cars" and features the stunning photography of Frank Oleski and the authoritative text by Hartmut Lehbrink. I was completely hooked and it started me painting again. As you can see from my copy below, it is well worn, I refer back to it often. If you ever have the chance to own this book I would recommend it above all my other scores of books, it is really something special.
Rallying
I have always been very interested in rallying. Especially the days when the RAC rally was several days (and nights) long and driven blind - no pace notes. Rallying may be the poor relation to Formula 1 in terms of media coverage but to me the cars are more recognisable, the drivers more skilful, the elements far harder to overcome and the outcome far less predictable. Once you've perched in Grizedale forest, frozen rigid, before dawn, waiting for Group B rally cars to snort past, spiiting flames for a few fleeting seconds, you are never quite the same (or sane!) person again.I feel I am getting close to painting all the significant rally cars in the sport's history and developing new products all the time. The book never far from my side is "Rally Cars" by the great Reinhard Klein, it is THE rally text and features the fantastic photography he has taken over many years.
Resources
In all my drawings, attention to detail is something I strive for. I have thousands of my own photos, scores of reference books, models and DVD's which I call upon for help. I don't claim everything is perfect but that is what I strive for in every painting.I use a paint package on PC and hand-draw all the lines of the cars first, filling in with shading afterwards. These pictures are not created magically from photos by use of special filters, each is hand drawn from scratch on a leading brand PC art package blending a traditional approach with modern technology. Some of the many books I own....
I also built this website
Myra & Jane
Finelines belongs to Myra and Jane, they are responsible for turning the artwork into various products and performing the marketing and much of the selling. The car artwork would never get off the ground if it wasn't for their help and encouragement. I give them a painting and they turn it into many other things. They fit in the car work around their own work which you can see on the other half of the site, scenes of N W England. Click here to view their work.