" His Canvas Rolls!"

A 1946 Plymouth pickup truck...

Yesterday, on the way back from my doctor's appointment, I stopped by my mechanic friend's garage. Initially, I dropped by in order to sketch this 1946 Plymouth pickup that James McClain was joyfully "reconstituting", but I didn't know that he already had my Honda Odyssey on the rack.

I had a slight "front fender faux pas" a few months back and he was helping to repair it.

"James, I didn't come here to check on your progress with my car," I said. I actually came to do a sketch of your "hotrod" Plymouth."

"That's okay," he replied as he rolled another studio chair my way. "Have a seat!"

We spent the first ten minutes discussing the damage I'd done and the next half hour talking about everything except politics.

"I can't believe all the spare parts and tools you have accrued over the years. I've got an artist friend who is now retired but spent most of his career creating these incredible paper sculpture illustrations for print."

"They are so detailed and meticulous, but his studio is such a mess," I continued.

"I could never work in a space like that, I said scanning the walls packed to the rafters with auto parts. This garage is a lot like my friend's studio."

This garage is thirty-five years full of stuff," he replied. I'm thinking about making another shelf to store more parts."

James excused himself when the phone in the office rang which gave me some time to sketch out his hotrod. I had planned to do a basic pencil sketch and then, time permitting, ink in the details. Doing a quick walkaround I noticed the use of many vice grips holding one part to another.

Twenty minutes later, when he came back out from the office, I commented on his brilliant and varied use of that tool.

"Tell me James, just how many vice grips do you own?"

Since we were having a great time engaged in conversation, I decided to continue the drawing at home in the studio.

For now, this pencil study will have to do. I probably will move on to something else over time. But just for the record, James is welding a '46 truck body on top of a 2002 Chevy S-10 frame and after many adjustments expects to make his debut with the "rod" sometime this summer.

Passionate and inspired works of art come in all shapes and sizes. Some even roll!

Copyright 2021/ Ben Bensen III