La Vie En Bleu 2013

After having such a great day out at the Bugatti Owners Club bash La Vie En Bleu last year I definitely had to go back, and I must say I had an even better experience second time around. If you are to go to Prescott once a year this may well be the event to go to.

As well as seeing a great array of cars and having a great time sketching I also got to catch up with another car sketching fanatic Stefan Majoram. I must say this guy is a great inspiration in terms of his loose and fluid sketching ability. Go check out his sketches from La Vie en Bleu and much more at his blog stefanssketchblog.blogspot.co.uk.

1950 Cooper Mark IV

 (ink sketch)

First sketch was this lovely Cooper which has been sensitively restored in order to preserve it's history, I'll leave it up to one of the current owners to tell it's story:

"Little is know of the early history of this car prior to 1970 when it was discovered by Bill Needham in a Potefract scrap metal yard. Bill restored the car back to original specification and began to campaign it vigorously over the next 25 years, finally calling it a day in 2007. In that time not only had the car regularly competed at all the major UK circuits, but also all over Europe including Nurburgring, Spa, Zolder, Zandvoort, Knutsdrop, Chimay, Montlhery, Peronne, Pau and Monza. It has also competed on a number of occasions at Goodwood Revival. Bill reckoned that the car must have covered at least 1000 racing miles each season, which computes to in excess of 25,000 competition miles in his ownership.

It currently runs a 500cc JAP engine running at 15 to 1 compression on methanol."

Ian Patton (current co owner and campaigner)

1953 Staride

(ink and watercolour)

Whilst sketching the Cooper I was asked to sketch this Staride this is the second Staride I've sketched this year and I was delighted to do so. 

This Staride has a 1953 Manx Norton engine in it which has surprisingly never been in a bike. It is one of 3 engines that came out of the factory and has never been installed in a bike. This type of engine is standard for the Staride and is preferred for track racing due to it's robust nature, as opposed to the JAP speedway engines that are used in other 500s, which are more suited to short runs as is expected with speedway engines.

Traction Avant Front End

(ink sketch)

I managed to sketch this whilst the Staride was going up the hill on it's second practice run. The ski slope nature of the avant front grill caught my eye and I thought I'd give it a go.

This Avant is a bit different as it was built, rebuilt and modernised by Malcom Saggers. The moderisation comes in the form of a 1.9 Citroen BX diesel engine and 5 speed gearbox, style with practicality. 

Amilcar Aero Special

(ink and watercolour)

Last but by no means least was this incredible Amilcar. The special utilises a 1930 Amilcar M2/M3 chassis and a 1917 American Hispano Suiza v8 11 litre aero engine. 50.000 of these areo engines were built and used in a variety of planes during WWI. This particular one came from an SE5a biplane and according to the wikipedia article it produced 200bhp. The car uses a Fraiser Nash transmission and the engine sounded perfect when the owner and builder Rob warmed it up before his final run of the day.

More photos from another glorious day at Prescott:

Cooper 500 wheel off 

Iota Race Car with a fantastic body shape

 Pembleton 3 wheeler utilising a Moto Guzzi engine

 Edwardian racers and their not so Edwardian owners

Two of three convertible Traction Avants on display 

 It wouldn't be a French celebration without a lovely 2CV

Vinot & Deguingand 

 I think that's more than a whale tale.

 Whilst drawing the Amilcar I was asked whether I'd like to see another supercharged example. This is a fantastic restoration carried out by Aston Keynes Vintage Restorations 

with a supercharged v6 engine.

One of the huge Edwardians leaving the pits for it's last run of the day.

Anna Faris and Chris Pratt Sell Hollywood Hills House

SELLER: Anna Faris and Chris Pratt
LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $2,295,000
SIZE: 2,563 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: It was only a few weeks ago that Your Mama let the cat out of the celebrity real estate bag about married comedic actors Anna Faris and Chris Pratt dropping $3,300,000 to acquire a three bedroom and 3.5 bathroom mock-Med mini-estate in the Hollywood Hills from Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino and his actress missus Jolene Blalock.

The couple have now hoisted their previous home, a 1950s modern ranch-style home on the open market with a $2,295,000 price tag. The house is, literally, across the street from their new house so iffin they wanted they could have schlepped their belongings from old house to new house with little more than a dolly and a couple of shopping carts temporarily pinched from Bristol Farms on Sunset.

This is not, bless her real estate heart, the first time Miz Faris has attempted to sell this particular house. Back in December 2007 she and her then first husband, actor Ben Indra, listed the house for $1,995,000, the exact same amount they paid for the place in November 2005. We don't know the details of their settlement but several sources confirmed to Your mama that Miz Faris got the house in the divorce.

Whatever the case, current listing details show the 2,563 square foot single story residence sits a bit above the quiet and little-known cul-de-sac street on an up sloping, .87 acre lot in the lower Nichols Canyon area. There are three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms.

A quickie comparison with the old listing photos show there have been a number cosmetic changes and at least one major alteration since Miz Faris last had the house on the market: Although the 1980s gold-veined mirror remains in place, he previously lime green and avocado-colored powder pooper was painted white—as were the previously charcoal colored kitchen cabinets—and the master bathroom was gutted.

Also markedly different is the day-core. Gone is the spare, mid-century modern dining room set and vamoosed was the low-slung sectional sofa and the burled wood and Lucite coffee table in the living room. In its stead is now the ho-hum handiwork of Staging Lady in a Pink Toyota who stripped away every last vestige of decorative personality and replaced it with the sort of things designed not to offend anyone who might be offended by outspoken decorative choices.

Instead of a proper front hall, the front door opens directly into a large living room with chatoyant hardwood floors, unfortunately low ceilings, an oddly intrusive fireplace, and wonderful floor-to-ceiling, wood-framed windows and doors that open to the swimming pool and look out to a close up view of the steep and verdant hillside behind the house.

A small, "formal" dining area adjoins the living room and connects through to a decent-sized kitchen equipped with simple, eggshell-colored cabinetry, mottled brown and black granite counter tops, and top quality stainless steel appliances. In the space where the architect probably intended a breakfast table to be set up there's a gigantic, built-in butcher block topped work island and a pantry cabinet that sadly stops just short of the ceiling and doesn't quite extend from wall to wall. Your Mama could happily live without the greenhouse window over the sink since we have an innate detestation for them.

The wood floors extend into the step-down master bedroom has that has at least one rustic wood beam that runs across the ceiling, a bank of glass doors that open to a small stone-walled terrace, and a walk-in dressing room with enclosed cabinetry. The newly renovated bathroom was outfitted with a custom double vanity and a party-sized, marble-lined and sky-lit steam shower. Both of the guest/family bedrooms also open through wood-framed sliding glass doors to small, (semi-)private patios.

Although it appears to Your Mama that a supermodel slim terrace runs along the back of the house that connects the kitchen (and bedrooms) to the swimming pool, the most direct route is through the living room. The shady-looking oasis has organic flag stone terracing, a lagoon-ish swimming pool, at least three built-in fire pits, and a whole lotta Asian-infused tropical rain forest type landscaping. A steep stairway of railroad ties zig-zags up the hillside behind the house and swimming pool to a flat pad with a Bocce court surrounded by a flag stone terracing with multiple seating areas and canyon views.

listing photos: John Aaroe Group

NSRA Billing Fun Run 2013

Another event that I'd failed to go to for the past few years is the NSRA Billing Fun Run. Held at the Billing Aquadrome holiday park near Northampton the NSRA run a weekend with a Cruise on the Saturday and a show and shine on the Sunday. This years cruise included the obligatory pub stop and an afternoon at an oval track with amongst other competitions a burnout competition. I however stayed in the holiday park and sketched in the long awaited sunshine.

In between sketches I met with my good friends Tim and Paul from Raygun Industries who were hosting an art show and selling their wares of t shirts and of course the mag with an ever increasing circulation Raygun which is now on the third issue. An incredible mag with a great mix of articles, it's not all about hot rods so go buy yourself a copy before they sell out!

1954 Ford Country Squire

(ink and watercolour)

My first sketch of the day was this fantastic Country Squire in sun bleached condition. Apparently the owner uses Ankor wax to keep the elements at bay, something I'm now looking into using on my own pick up.

1946 Hudson Big Boy Pick Up

(ink and watercolour)

I initially chose this to sketch as I love the sting rayesque grills on the Hudsons, and combining it with a pick up is a perfect combination. After having a chat with the owner I soon found out that this is a pretty rare beast. It is right hand drive and one of only 3 known to have survived from South Africa. Hudson like many other companies shipped their cars out to countries like South Africa as a kit which was then assembled. After asking to look under the hood I instantly recognised the engine as a Plymouth engine, the owner suggested that they possibly didn't include an engine in the shipped kit and hence the different engine, something that I will try and find out about....

 

Great Dr Pepper bottle opener.

1971 Cadillac Coupe De Ville

(ink and watercolour)

I'm determined to get these cruisers right in terms of sketching, they are always a challenge to get something so long in proportion on the page. One day I'll get it right.

With a 7 litre v8 this is one beast of a "land yacht"

Here's some more snaps from my time at Billing:

Ford Thunderbird

 30's Ford Pick Up

 Hillman and Rily Elf

 Plymouth

 VW Split pick up with tilt

 Ford Country Sedan

 Dodge

 I wasn't sure whether this was Elvis or Michael Myers?

 Buick Eight

 Ford Suburban, but with a bit extra I think.

 Chevrolet panel van

This sums up Billing Fun Run

Monday Morsel: Dmitry Rybolovlev

In 2008 Russian fertilizer plutocrat Dmitry Rybolovlev paid blowhard billionaire Donald Trump an astonishing $95,000,000 for Maison de L'Amitie, a 33,000+ square foot mega-mansion on 6.26  acres with 475 feet of ocean frontage in famously snooty Palm Beach, FL.

Since his much publicized acquisition, according to South Florida gossip Jose Lambiet, Mister Rybolovlev has been inside the meretriciously opulent convention center-sized house "once or twice" and now plans to tear it down by the end of this year because it is—so the stories go—riddled with mold.

What exactly Mister Rybolovlev plans to do seems to be up in the air. Could be he'll replace the existing residence with an even bigger monument to his extreme wealth or—as was speculated by an unidentified source in Mister Lambiet's report—he could try to subdivide the property "into as many as a dozen large beachfront lots."

It was Mister Rybolovlev—or his now 24 year old daughter, Ekaterina, depending on who you as or what you read—who in 2011 shelled out a shocking $88,000,000 for financier Sandy Weill's posh penthouse apartment at 15 Central Park West in New York City and who reportedly agreed to pay Greek shipping heiress Athina Onassis Roussell $154,000,000 for the the legendary Greek island of Skorpios and the smaller neighboring island of Sparti.

photo: Bing

Monday Morsel: X-Tina Aguilera

After a couple years on the market pop music provocateur Christina Aguilera finally sold her extravagantly decorated and gleefully garnished Beverly Hills mansion—the one she bought from Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne in 2007 for $11.5 million—in late April (2013) for exactly $11,500,000.

The buyer of the 11,571 square foot mock-Med mansion, according to Yolanda Yakketyyak—and confirmed with property records—is 30-something year old Chinese actress Miao Pu. That name won't ring many bells for readers of western celebrity gossip glossies but in China, children, she is unequivocally Show Business royalty.

Does this mean Miss Pu wants to make a run at Hollywood fame and fortune? We shall see, won't we?

Miz Aguilera decamped to a big new crib in the guard gated Mulholland Estates community in Beverly Hills/Sherman Oaks where some of her new neighbors include Paris Hilton, Vanna White, Charlie Sheen and British pop star Robbie Williams

photo: Pacific Coast News

Monday Morsel: Leroy Schecter

Last August, amid a flurry of reports by property gossips on both coasts and around the world, steel magnate Leroy Schecter wanted $95,000,000 for his not yet fully-combined two-unit combo-condo at the hideously high-priced 15 Central Park West building in New York City. He hacked the price to $85 million in early April (2013) before he took it off the market a few weeks later.

The 35th floor aerie is back on the market for $85 million but it's also, as first reported in  the New York Observer, up for grabs as a rental for a throat constricting $125,000 per month. The now combined, suburban macmansion-sized apartment has, according to the floor plan included with current online listings, 4-5 bedrooms and five full and two half bathrooms plus four park-facing rooms (living, dining, library, master bedroom), three exposures (east, south and west), two laundry rooms, and more than a dozen closets—many of them walk-ins.

Mister Schecter, a well-known real estate baller, was recently outed as the $25 million buyer of the 11,000-plus square foot Rothschild mansion on E. 70th Street. The octogenarian real estate baller also owns a train station sized water front mansion with 7 bedrooms and 14 toilets on the prestigious, guard-gated Indian Creek Island in Miami Beach that he listed in May, 2012 for $45 million and reduced in May, 2013 to a still sky-high $42 million.

floor plan: CORE

Ken Olin and Patricia Wettig Sell in Santa Monica

SELLERS: Ken Olin and Patricia Wettig

LOCATION: Santa Monica, CA
PRICE: $6,900,000

SIZE: 4,584 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3.75 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Actor/producer/director Ken Olin and three-time Emmy-winning actress Patricia Wettig seem to be a real rarity in Tinseltown. Not only have they been married—to each other—for more than 30 years, they frequently work together (Brothers & Sisters, Alias, thirtysomething) and they've owned and occupied the same historic house in Santa Monica, CA since 1995 when they acquired the early 20th century center hall Colonial Revival residence for an undisclosed amount of money.

While their marriage seems solid they recently decided to sell their Santa Monica home of 15-plus years. Online resources indicate the now 50- and 60-something year old former thirtysomething actors first put their sophisticated spread for sale in early April (2013) with a celebrity-sized $6.9 million asking price. The property was quickly put into escrow with an unknown buyer at an unknown price but, alas, the deal was not consummated and the house was returned to the open market over the weekend with its original $6.9 million price tag.

Listing details reveal the residence was designed by distinguished L.A. architects Sumner Hunt and Silas Burns and built in 1913 for Thomas C. Bundy, the fourth son and scion of a prominent property developing Santa Monica family. T.C. Bundy was three-time national double tennis champion turned real estate developer who who founded the Los Angeles Tennis Club and developed L.A.'s Miracle Mile District and parts of Sherman Oaks.

The 4,584 square foot main residence occupies a flat, .4 acre double wide corner property and, although substantially updated and upgraded, retains much of it's original detailing: plaster moldings, leaded windows and built-in cabinetry. There are, according to listing details, four bedrooms and 3.75 bathrooms plus a separate guest house with an additional bathroom.

Pale blond original wood floors run throughout the main living spaces that include a generous foyer and a roomy formal living room with multi-pane casement windows, built-in book cases, a wood burning fireplace, and French doors that lead out to a walled dining terrace. There's a second fireplace in the formal dining room where a massive, original built-in hutch is smartly balanced with an austere white oval dining table and eight iconic Hans Wegner chairs.

The spacious eat-in kitchen has a vintage vibe but is fully souped for modern living with crisp white custom cabinetry, top quality stainless steel appliances, and a chunky butcher block topped center island with two-stool snack and booze counter. The kitchen adjoins a good-sized breakfast room with built-in cabinetry as well as a large family room with paneled wainscoting painted a subtle shade of gray, over-sized multi-pane windows, and a third, corner fireplace. Also in the general vicinity of the kitchen, according to marketing materials, are an office and an enclosed porch.

The sun-flooded second floor master suite has more wood floors, high ceilings, two closets and a vintage-style attached bathroom with a sarcophagi-style soaking tub set into a windowed niche lined with gray-grouted off-set subway tiles.

The backyard is a fantasia of mature trees and flowering shrubbery, numerous terraces, at least one fountain, and a pergola shaded dining area and lounge with outdoor fireplace. The dark-bottomed swimming pool is solar heated, according to listing information.

Your Mama's research reveals that in addition to their home base in Santa Monica, Mister Olin and Miz Wettig also own a modestly scaled if hardly inexpensive home in the Hamptons where they bought a 1.5 acre parcel in May 2006 for $800,000 and in 2008 they complete the custom build out of a contemporary residence with 3,239 square feet and a lap lane swimming pool.

Property records show the Olin-Wettigs share a long, private driveway with two other larger but remarkably similarly contemporary residences. As it turns out one of the houses is owned by two-time Tony winning Broadway actor and director Joe Mantello (Angels in America, Take Me Out, Wicked, Assassins) Property records suggest the other is co-owned by Mister Mantello's former long-time man-mate, Pulitzer prize nominated playwright (A Fair Country) and screenwriter (Brothers & Sisters) Jon Baitz, and Tony winning and Emmy nominated actor Ron Rifkin (Brothers & Sisters, Alias, Law & Order: SVU) and his wife Iva Rifkin.

listing photos: Teles Properties