Bert Ernie was flicking through the latest Autocar magazine when he saw this double page spread leading into an aticle about the new to be released Aston Martin Vanquish. His first thoughts were – I have to paint that. So he discretely liberated the pages from the magazine and placed them in his bag. The rest is history.
579 hours to paint this masterpiece. This was a challenge to draw and paint. The Vanquish title is quite fitting. Bert had finally ‘vanquished’ the demons that drove him to take his skill set to the next level. From the time Bert had finished this he knew he was as good as any other photorealist painter on the planet.
Dimensions: 90x132cm
Painted: 2009
Materials: Acrylic on MDF board
Private collection
The story behind Vanquish
Painted as homage to the most celebrated painter of photorealism, Richard Estes, this features an Aston Martin Vanquish parked in front of the cityscape of Houston. The drawing was very time consuming, and once completed, the painting part was relatively easy.
The (then) new Aston Martin Vanquish was designed as the flagship by its new owners Ford, and it represents a stunning mastery of all that represents the design hallmarks that set this marquee apart. The car was driven before its release by a journalist across the USA and photographed against an incredible backdrop of the city.
The two-page spread had to be scanned into the computer before being joined, then the text removed. Buildings like this were a time-consuming challenge and took 150+ hours to draw!
Source image of realism painting Vanquish
Detail views of realism painting Vanquish
