#21 Mike's 2000 Pontiac SunFire, the Red Haring

The hood



The roof






November 2012

I like to have photos of the cars with their people, but they're not always so very color-coordinated as this one, taken by Mike's brother Rob.

Mike's my best friend, a mild-mannered accountant by day and, um, a mild-mannered accountant by night. Still, it really bothered me that for years he refused to let me paint his car. And then in the glorious year of 2012, he suddenly said yes.

Years ago, a guy named Dean told me my car reminded him of Keith Haring. Who? I'd never heard of the fellow. Well, Dean lent me his book and I found a photo of Haring's car online. I think ever since I saw that, I've been wanting to paint such a thing. I watched the movie of Haring on Netflix and am so glad I got to find out about him.

This is the only car I've painted (so far) using only one color and one shape: a one-inch square. At the very end of the job, I realized I could have been just dragging the sponge to spread the paint. Instead, I pounced it thousands and thousands of time. In this case of basic line drawings, the texture really isn't needed. In fact, it almost takes away from the thing.

But no matter. This is my favorite car so far.

And for Christmas, Mike's brother-in-law Terry got him an aluminum water bottle and asked me to paint it to match the car. Just how exactly cool is that?

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