Parked for years in front of a much-loved Mexican restaurant, this old Chevy 3600 has become an icon of Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard in central New Orleans. The New Orleans heat, humidity and rain have combined with the truck’s styling and paint job to give it an extraordinary character and patina. For a long time, I had thought it would be a great subject for a large-scale painting and finally started it in 2019. Then the pandemic hit and I set the giant canvas aside, half-finished, for more than two years, only returning to it in early 2023. I love the color palette of rich browns, deep blues and faded greens, set it in front of a two-story New Orleans home painted in deep yellow. At six feet high by eight feet wide, this is one of the largest painting I’ve ever done. Stop by and see it in person on Royal Street’s annual Dirty Linen Night, Saturday, August 12th from 6 to 9pm.
I don’t typically paint realism but I’m drawn to certain subjects, especially on a large scale. I’ve painted single, giant apples measuring four feet square. I painted a huge canvas of a container ship gleaming in the sun on the Mississippi River. This is the third large-scale truck painting (previous ones pictured below). What’s next? I’m thinking there is a train in my future.
See more work on my Paintings page or visit the Online Gallery to see a selection of prints.
