In order to work out the compositions for the Peter Iredale paintings I built a scale model of the Peter Iredale to use as a reference. For instance I didn’t have an historic photograph of the Peter Iredale from the angle of the painting from the 1920s, but I was able to use the model to plan out the composition. This photo of the model illustrates how I can recreate historic photographs and add people and cars to make my own original compositions.
This 1/43rd scale Peter Iredale model is made entirely of wood and paper that is painted to look like rusty metal. It is mounted on a 3 x 8 foot plywood board that is painted to look like sand with an epoxy water effect.
For reference with the painting I sewed these miniature swimsuits for pose-able plastic figures. While planning compositions with the Peter Iredale model it's important to me to make sure that the lighting and shadows of the people match the ship and that's why I use these figures. I copied the designs of the swimsuits from a reference book for 1923 and hand colored them using fabric markers.
The car in this painting is a 1915 Stutz Bulldog Special. It seemed like the crowd in this painting wouldn’t drive a new car and instead I wanted the car to seem like a hand-me-down. What I like about this car is that it has the performance of the more famous Stutz Bearcat, but with a spacious backseat and room for friends.
