One of the greatest aspects of being an automotive enthusiast is the limitless amount of variety in our community. With such a large diversity in our alliance, many of us have can at times have contrasting opinions. But at the end of the day, it’s our love for the automobile that unites us as a whole and brings us together as enthusiasts.

Image Sources: Malcolm Hazeldean

While fellow automotive enthusiast and automotive artist Malcolm Hazeldean doesn’t boast a sponsored racecar or a home-grown project car built in his garage, Hazeldean is as much of an enthusiast as any of us are, which he attributes to his love of the Shelby GT500.

Hazeldean has been an automotive enthusiast for as far back as he can remember, roughly at the age of about four years-old. Living in New Zealand where he was born, Hazeldean remembers rushing home on his bike after class, just so he could draw and convey everything he saw on the way home.

Hazeldean wasn’t always creating automotive art like he has now. In fact, he started his career in a separate form of art – particularly, in engineering. He says, “I was trained in Architecture, but literally fell into flying for a major International Airline. But 25 years later, I’m still looking up at what I can find. Often when there’s nothing up there, my attention reverts to what’s in front of me; and that’s the motorways. The streets and road that connect us, the smells and sounds that often attract us; where I’d see things and rush home on my school bike to draw and convey what I saw as exciting, on very large unprinted plain news paper. I often astounded my folks as a four year-old with details they frankly just couldn’t see. My dad had an old ’56 Pontiac with details he never knew about until I put them on paper.”

An automotive enthusiast first above all else, Hazeldean enjoys hand painting pictures of many different vehicle brands.

Thinking creatively is like throwing away every preexisting belief and assumption that you’ve ever made and replacing it with uncharted territory. It’s a perpetual battle between acceptance and validation which echoes the events of the past which are tried-and-true. As an artist, Hazeldean does a great deal of battling himself when it comes to his art. So how does one combat that desire to completely scrap everything and start from scratch?

Hazeldean says, “No music. Frankly, it interferes in the creative stage. I can’t make any sudden movements when I paint. I need to be still and concentrate. But when the canvas is prepared, which is a process in itself that many never see; I live it, breath it, and sleep it. And I think to myself with a pencil in hand, should this be here? or there. Should that go over there, and do I have the colors down correctly, or are the colors conflicting? Thoughts of where I should incorporate the vehicle owner at; in-front, or to the left, or the right. It’s a constant battle of acceptance, balance, and what I think looks good. I guess I have my DNA to blame. Maybe a creative molecule that proliferated into a creative  sort of soup that I can’t get rid of, or now want to. Or maybe a DNA string that says go forth and just scribble, perhaps?

“I had tried that method really early on. Later, I gained the understanding of perspective and depth of field or diminishing horizons. And then there’s color. The temperature in brightness, which can be dark or light. But what inspires me the most? I guess it’s simply the world we live.”

Hazeldean’s paintings are all done by hand using acrylic paint and hand brushes, which we think is absolutely incredible.

With so many young and bright aspiring artists in the world, it’s important that we do not let the craft of creative thinking become endangered. Enthusiasts like Hazeldean are eager to help aspiring young artists that are seeking advice with these helpful tips that he’s learned from past experience.

Hazeldean says, “As an artist, I’m never caught without my sketch pads and pocket sized mini cameras. I’m just never far away from the action. An example might be where a rebuild has taken place over several years, but the owner might like a comparison in a painting with the old car, sitting beautiful beside the new rebuilt one. Like a new and old comparison of the car in the same painting. If the hand and eye have a talent for whatever you enjoy doing, be patient and persistent. Make a place at home where you can leave your things without the folks cleaning up behind you. That’s your space, where your ideas can be left for tomorrow. Photograph everything, regardless of whether it looks good or not. It’ll be important when you’re older. And finally, stay focused and be persistent. Have your career, maybe even build a house and have babies, or even travel. But just remember; it’s a life-time achievement, and it doesn’t need to be rushed.”