Garage Sale!

If you're a fan or friend of ours on Facebook, then you've probably seen what we've been doing with the page, and how it's starting to take on a life of its own. Between the blogs, sneak peeks and more, we're stoked about the new features, and are adding more all of the time!

One popular feature has been the Garage Sale (you'll need to be a fan to view it)... We've been offering one-off's, originals and protoypes, and have much more on the way. Some has reached actual bidding war, while other items have gone for literally pennies on the dollar.

We have two new items up for grabs this weekend, with an anaglyph (a 3D image) that hung in the Hot Rod Art Book: Masters of Chicken Scratch show at GINAC Gallery last year... It is framed, includes killer Wayfarer-style glasses, and is signed. A true one-off collectible indeed.

We recently packed and shipped off this original:

...which was a detailed, mixed media Tour de Force, and the new owner is stoked.

Get in on the deals, and grab some great stuff as we make room in the Studio for new projects and capabilities! Hope to see you there, and thanks!

Stenciling in some time...

Lately, it's been rough finding a few hours here or there to do anything, much less create some art on the side... but somehow, some way... I managed to sneak in a minute or two per day, and nail down some visions that had been trapped in my head right where they belong: On paper and canvas!

The piece to the left here began some time ago as a digital work, and if you've been following along since 2004 or so, you'll recognize the basics here... I had wanted to throw in the '40 on the first Disturbingly Kool tee, but opted at the very last second to incorporate the Valley Custom-style creeper... This time around, well... it needed to be the '40, and I broke out the Mylar, frisket and tape, and began the process of creating stencils and masks, oh my!

I poked around the studio and garage for a few days as well, rounding up texturally interesting items, and a piece of expanded metal called to me, as well as some bubble wrap... and pretty soon, I had the background texture flying! Mixing paints, inks, and then mixing different mediums into those paints, I began to just go on "auto-pilot", letting the layers build themselves. I'm stoked about the result, and hope you dig it, too!

Next up was the painstaking task of cutting the stencils and masks, and figuring out a good system for layering them all, as I wanted to get this as detailed as possible, and have as much depth as I could, but still retain that flat, stencil look that brought this whole project on in the first place...

If you check out the detail shot to the right here, you'll see what I was after, as well as a slight shift in the stencils, a product of a very late night, but one of those "happy accidents" Bob Ross used to speak of. I learned a LOT about creating work in this manner, and will DEFINITELY do more... it's a blast, and really is a ton of fun to put down the stylus and mouse, and just attack materials with an X-Acto knife, some brushes, an the trusty Iwata twins... There's just that almost Zen moment when David Lee Roth's voice is drowned-out by the hum of the compressor, and the paints manage to somehow eek out of the air brush, loaded with extenders and matte and gloss medium. It's almost crazy to think that it had been so long since I created anything without the aid of computers, and shocking how different of a tan you get between a momitor's glow, and the lighting out in the shop!

I hope you dig this piece, as it's one of my favorites! (so much so, in fact, that I had it scanned, and am offering limited-edition print of this monster over on my site at www.problemchildkustoms.com) If you get time, please check it out, and if the mood strikes, pick up a print so that I can buy some more supplies!

Thanks again for checking it out...

The Way to San Jose...

…apparently involved a maze.

Well, THE Maze, actually.
Recently, a conversation with a client (debating the merits of a few avenues we could travel with his ‘57 Ford) turned to one of my all-time favorite late-50’s customs, Jerry Devito’s “The Maze”.

The car is a great example of restyling at the time, employing seven scoops of Grande Brothers bodywork (not to mention shaved trim and handles, extended peaks over the tunneled head and tail lights) all covered in a green/gold, and finally, a topping of scallops in seven colors by Bob Hendricks. Outrageous? Certainly… Are we going to duplicate the car? Unlikely… but there are aspects of this car that are so “right”, it’s scary, and will make the final cut. (however, if anyone is up to creating a similar, maybe even a tribute car…. I’m ready for you!)

Dig on the stance for a bit… It’s awesome. The right amount of sidewall on the tires, the chrome reverse wheels are incredible, and the lack of a rear hubcap hints at performance potential. Devito’s ride utilized the original engine, with the addition of an Offy three deuce intake, Isky cam, and the ever-popular Magspark ignition — we may go likewise! Interesting to note is that the car had some chrome engine dress-up parts… This was the era when such underhood detail began to gain ground… As the cars became lower and more “custom” in appearance from the factory, the emphasis on body modifications (current example exempted!) began to wane, and it was in vogue to simply drop the ride height, and go wild on paint. Consider that this same car, if built a couple of years later, may have worn thin whitewalls (Royal Masters, perhaps?), no lakes pipes, and the body restyling would have been decidedly different… ‘59 was the tail end of wide whitewalls, and the beginning of a steady decline of the “golden age” of customs.

In any event, I thought it would be cool to share this car, as it had a profound effect on me so many years ago when I first saw it, thumbing through some “little pages” at a family friend’s shop (imagine a kid in the ’80’s discovering this car in his VERY early teens… “impressionable” begins to describe it!). Later in life, I’d stumble across a piece of art by VonFranco featuring this car. Wild! While I’m certain many folks knew of the car, it was awesome to see it immortalized by a modern master in that way.

Odd fact: The car appeared in print wearing the stock front bumper on at least one occasion (as seen here):

and then later in print, with an odd split bumper and molded pan…

Anyone know when this happened? If so, drop me a line! (www.problemchildkustoms.com)

There you have it… a quick trip through the maze, complete with some cool eye candy as your reward…