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I have a red 300M, but I drew a blue 300M based on a reference photo that I found.

This was done in Adobe Illustrator, but nothing that couldn’t be done in Inkscape.

Total time was about 40 hours.

Click on the image to see full size. I didn’t quite finish but still got an “A” on the project (my classmates had some downright AWFUL pieces – the assignment was to use Illustrator to draw a car).

• windshield wipers not drawn
• windshield itself needs additional rendering
• passenger side view mirror missing
• probably much more I can’t think of right now

I used a lot of Gradient Mesh, which I hope to see in Inkscape very soon. This was a fun project and took about 26 hours.

Yes, it can be done! I don’t really like watercolors much but I have managed to get a decent Crayola set and some better (but still not very good) brushes and some low-grade watercolor paper. I’m able to paint with my 2 year old around. Hallelujah!

Okay, so what I’m able to make between my 2 year old wanting to “erase daddy’s picture” is not really museum-quality stuff, but hey, I’m still making art and I’m also learning something. My biggest “aha!” is that the art is BETTER when we collaborate. My 2-year-old son and I, that is. I’m not sure why – maybe it’s that he forces me to work quickly and impulsively where I would normally think too much. He’s also not afraid to mix whichever-the-hell colors together that suite him at the moment, and to discard convention (being alien to him) and do things like water down the blue like crazy and then mash his brush into the paper until it’s almost completely dry. He’ll then come back later and wet it down as he’s noodling about. He’s made some surprisingly good pieces, actually. Better than some “professional” abstract artists I’ve seen, actually.

Meanwhile, I’m frantically trying to clean the green goo on top of the yellow paint and trying to keep that blue out of the red paint. Alas, as fast as I clean, he destroys (okay, FASTER).

I show him how to wet down a spot, drop in some color, and blow on it to spread the color; he’s immediately excited and sets about blowing on the paint in his own devil-may-care manner (usually involving a healthy amount of spit). Nevertheless, the results are fairly impressive and I’m proud of my budding artist – and, more importantly, he’s proud of himself. He runs off to show Mama what he’s made, grinning from ear to ear.

I was watching some home improvement show and the host made a comment about how the homeowner, who hadn’t painted in about 10 years, was “impersonating an artist.” I liked it so much I think I might just make it my tagline for my blog. I also like the term, “professional amateur,” promoting the idea that I’ve been an amateur portrait artist for so long that I’m actually a pro at it! Seriously, though, I have sold portraits and I’ve even given several really good ones away as gifts. I’ve just never really advertised that this is what I do. I don’t know why, I just haven’t. I’ve been impersonating an artist, and it’s time to stop impersonating and start being real.