Airbrushing vehicles is something that I gained interest in very early on in my artistic career, as my dad had a vehicle that was airbrushed back in the seventies and I always thought that one day I would do the same on my vehicle! Over the years, I actually airbrushed several of my vehicles, but I feel that my 2012 Ford F150 is the most exciting one I've done yet. I wish my dad had been here to see it!
We bought the truck brand new, which is actually the best time to airbrush a vehicle, as it doesn't have any chips on it yet. No body work was required, I just had to remove the clearcoat, airbrush the mural, and add the clearcoat again. Simple!?
I had worked with a body shop in Edmonton for a few months before we moved to Fort McMurray, and when I asked Shane if I could paint my truck in his shop, he agreed, but on one condition: I had to do it all by myself. He would help me by giving me directions, but he would not do it for me.
We lived in Fort McMurray at the time, so I drove down to Edmonton, and told Antoine: "don't worry, it will only take me a couple of weeks, then I'll be back...". I guess I didn't realize how much more time it would take me to sand the clear off the truck, remove all the plastic components, before I could actually start the two week process I had in mind... so the two weeks turned into 5 weeks. Lol, I kept telling him "one more week and I should be done...".
I can tell you, when I first sanded the truck to remove the clear, and the black truck turned into a old looking grey truck, I really wondered if I was
crazy! But I was committed.
I had sketched the design in my book, and all I had to do now was to paint
it free hand on the nice big canvas. I think it turned out pretty good!
We are still driving this truck, and Antoine still wonders some times why people are waving at us or looking at us with awe. Especially in the beginning, he used to ask me if I knew these people, and I would simply tell him no, it's the paint job.... ahh he would say, I forgot about that... Our daughters call it the "Dragon Truck".
To this day, the paint job looks like new, while the bumpers, which are the only parts of the truck that I didn't paint at the time, are the only parts that are rusting.
