Fueled by Clouds & Coffee: Tops Down at the Greenwood Car Show

6/25/16 inks, water-soluble colored pencil

Each June I look forward to sketching at the Greenwood Car Show, “A mile and a half of classic rides” on both sides of Greenwood Avenue. Although it officially opens at 8 a.m., I like to get there before 7:30 to beat the crowds.

6/25/16 inks, colored pencils

With hundreds of cars to choose from, it can be overwhelming, so this year I picked a theme: convertibles. A couple of years ago when rain looked imminent, most of the convertibles kept their tops up (and indeed, I got rained out after only a couple of sketches), but not so today. Although the morning started out overcast and cool, rain was nowhere in the forecast, so all tops were down.

I warmed up with a bright red ’63 Bonneville, which turned out to be my favorite sketch of the day. Next was a cream-colored ’63 Triumph roadster that I would have loved to have taken for a spin!

6/25/16 grease pencil, colored pencils

6/25/16 inks, colored pencils

Mid-morning I stopped for a break at Herkimer Coffee, where I sketched the street scene from a bench outside. That’s also where I spotted Joey, an old dog dozing on the sidewalk while waiting for his humans to return.

Refreshed, I hit the street again, and the first thing I saw was a pair of mandatory hired bikinis. Wearing very high heels (and not much else), the two young women looked bored, checking their messages. As I sketched, I overheard a woman passing by saying to her husband, “Keep your eyes on the cars, dear.”

My last convertible of the day was a blue ’69 Camaro SS. By then the crowds were getting thick, so I stepped away from the street to sketch it from a challenging rear angle.

6/25/16 ink, colored pencils

6/25/16 inks, water-soluble colored pencils

As I walked back toward my own car, I stopped to catch a couple of buskers adding a little jazz flavor to the festivities. It was nearly noon by then, and when I saw the crowds on the slope of the hill on the next block, I knew it was time to go. As my own celebration of another terrific Greenwood Car Show, I drove home with the top down.

See my sketches from the 2015, 2014 and 2013 shows.