Mercedes Memories

2017

Oil on Board

18” x 24” (45.72cm x 61cm)

My childhood is full of fond memories and great sources of inspiration which sometimes turn into paintings.

I always enjoyed shopping trips with my sister, mom, and grandmother. Quite often it meant the possibility of getting a new Hot Wheels car. Many of which my own children play with today. One distinctive memory of those trips was looking at the three-point star hood ornament cutting through the air on the hood of Grandma’s car.

I didn’t know what it represented, I just thought it was cool. It wasn’t until years later when I knew enough about cars to realize that on those shopping trips I was being chauffeured in a vintage Mercedes.

Another vintage Mercedes was my daily driver and “surf mobile” provided by a car collector client while I was working on numerous paintings and murals in his Hawaii home. Driving back and forth to paint or driving to the beach with a surfboard in tow, looking at the same hood ornament cutting through the tropical air reminded me of Grandma’s car and my blessed childhood.

My lifelong love of cars started as a young boy, and now my oldest son has developed the same affliction. Maybe one day he will have is own Mercedes Memories.