Painting Eric Clapton's Fool Guitar - Phase Ten

Hi, Folks!  It's been awhile!  Getting back to posting photos of my artistic interpretation of Eric Clapton's "Fool" guitar!  Now for the angel wings!

The wings have a strange tannish-gold color in the pictures I've seen of the guitar.  I wondered if the wings were metallic gold since gold can be difficult to photograph and will often look a dull brown in a photo.

My good friend and ex-bandmate, Pat Thomas, is a writer, musician, and music historian. He happens to know Bobby Whitlock and said he would ask him for me about the color of the wings.  Bobby Whitlock played the guitar many times back in the day when he collaborated with Eric Clapton on various musical projects, including Derek and the Dominos.

Whitlock responded, "I don't remember them as gold but yellow and a dull one at that...Just reflecting back on it and I am probably closer to right than not...There was no outstanding glossy metal look about it at all...All of the colors blended together and nothing like bright gold wings was there to my rememberence."  Nuff said!

I will keep trying to match colors from the reference photos I'm using as best I can.  I am mostly using a photo from a book that Bruce Diamond let me borrow, Classic Guitars of the 60s, edited by Tony Bacon.  I've also found a few halfway decent images of the original guitar on the internet.

Todd Rundgren playing the Fool

In any case, I don't know whether my painting will be truly historically accurate because at some point Todd Rundgren owned the guitar and had it refinished after it was left in sorry condition from many years of Clapton's vigorous use of it.

I'm not sure when the photo in the book Classic Guitars of the 60s was taken, before or after the guitar was refinished.  I don't know how the guitar's paint job may have changed.

Oh, well.  Historic accuracy aside, I'm enjoying the process in my attempt to recreate this artistic gem from the psychedelic era, originally painted by Marijke Koger and Simon Posthuma.

People are asking me what paints I'm using.  Just a variety of acrylic paints from the tube.

Onward to the little masterpiece on the pickguard! I need to finish this project!

Painting Eric Clapton's Fool Guitar - Phase Nine

Rolling right along....

Painting blood red on the flames.

Flames finished.

Adding blood red to the headstock.

Adding blue and green to the headstock.

Headstock colors finished.

Painting a cosmic outline on the angel's hair.

Check out Eric Clapton playing The Fool guitar in this interview.

Painting Eric Clapton's Fool Guitar - Phase Eight

Welcome back as I continue working on this painted "Fool" replica for my client Bruce Diamond.

Time to paint the yellow stars (46 of them)......

Let me introduce you to Dutch artist Marijke Koger, designer and painter of the original 1967 psychedelic guitar for Eric Clapton.

The yellow stars are very recognizable on the clothes she's wearing, an example of her numerous fashion designs of the 60s.

Marijke is pictured here with her partner Simon Posthuma, also from Holland.  He collaborated with her on painting the famous Clapton art guitar.  They were a creative team who during this time formed the artist collective "The Fool" with Josje Leeger and Barry Finch.

photo featured in the book "Electrical Banana" by Norman Hathaway and Dan Nadel

Here are the two at work painting John Lennon's piano.

George Harrison seated in front of his fireplace mural, also painted by Koger and Posthuma.

 

The couple became part of the fabric of the 1960s British music and fashion scene.  After the artist group "The Fool" was formed, they painted a huge mural on the storefront of the Beatles' short-lived Apple Boutique in London.  They designed the interior of the store with painted murals and were hired to set up shop producing their own unique style of artwork and psychedelic gypsy clothing to be sold there.

photo featured in the book "Electrical Banana" by Norman Hathaway and Dan Nadel

Later moving to Los Angeles, The Fool went on to create the world's largest outdoor mural of the time at the Aquarius Theater for the musical "Hair".

In my attempt to create a replica of this design that Koger and Posthuma painted on Eric Clapton's guitar when he was in the band Cream, I can't help but become increasingly absorbed in the fascinating cultural history of this era.  Revisiting a youthful and radical psychedelic renaissance. 

Painting Eric Clapton's Fool Guitar - Phase Seven

Yellow is the colour of my true love's.....

 ......halo.

Adding yellow to the rainbow.

Painting yellow flames.

 

Coming together.....

Adding yellow to the headstock.

 

Painting the triangle.

Painting Eric Clapton's Fool Guitar - Phase Five

 

  Starting the angel.

 

It didn't occur to me while I was painting the angel, but afterward upon reviewing these photos I remembered a terrible tragedy in Clapton's life.  The image of the angel takes on an entirely new meaning..... 

 

 Painting the cloud.

Painting Eric Clapton's Fool Guitar - Phase Four

Further adventures with my rendition of the Fool guitar.
Painting Clapton's blues.....

Pictured is a little description of the 60s artist group "The Fool" found on page 49 of "Classic Guitars of the 60s" edited by Tony Bacon.  Dutch artists Marijke Koger and Simon Posthuma were hired to paint an artistic Gibson SG for Eric Clapton when he was in the band Cream.  He made good use of the guitar on Cream's first American tour in 1967 and in subsequent studio sessions.

 

  Starting the rainbow with purple....

Making progress...

Trying to get the colors right.  I can only be so accurate looking at a photo from a book and another from the internet.

  Almost forgot to paint this plastic guard thingamabobber!

Painting Eric Clapton's Fool Guitar - Phase Three

The ice is broken.  I am now applying paint to guitar.

Starting with the gradation of the blue sky.

Long way to go!

Painting Eric Clapton's Fool Guitar - Phase Two

Okay, some more of the drawing phase.  Fine tuning the loose sketch......

The flames would be more fun if I could render them freestyle, but I'm trying to stay close to the original so it's a bit painstaking.

The locations of the holes for the volume and tone controls, and the locations of the pickups seem to be a bit different on this guitar than the original.  I think I better ask Bruce for the hardware to trace it properly.  I need to know more precisely where the painting will be covered up.

My client, Bruce Diamond, supplied me with a great book for reference.  Classic Guitars of the 60s edited by Tony Bacon has a picture of The Fool guitar on the front cover and a nice larger photo on the inside.  Many other really unique guitars are in this book.  Fun to read.

"Classic Guitars of the 60s" edited by Tony Bacon

The angel is holding a triangle. 

 

 Bruce doesn't like how the psychedelic rainbow doesn't end at the point of the guitar so I'm extending it to the point. The rainbow on the original follows a weird, irregular pattern that kind of bugs me so I'm making the rainbow flow more symmetrically.  Artistic license.

 Okay, this time I promise I will start painting.  All the mapping out of the drawing is done.  (Except for the pickguard which I will paint last.  I still need to fine tune the drawing of the landscape.) 

Painting Eric Clapton's Fool Guitar - Phase One

Photo of original guitar by John Peden. Source www.vintageguitar.com

 
 

 Join me as I embark upon my artistic journey to paint a copy of Eric Clapton's "The Fool" Gibson SG, made famous in 1967.  My multi-talented musician friend Bruce Diamond of Diamond Strings has commissioned me to create a replica of this historic art guitar.  Pictured below is the front and back of the original piece.  I have been entrusted to paint a  copy of the front only.
 

Photo of original guitar by John Peden. Source www.vintageguitar.com

When Bruce approached me to do this project I was delighted to get a lesson in art history and music history as I was not aware of this guitar.  This famous decorated instrument accompanied Eric Clapton and his band Cream on their first American tour.  The two artists responsible for painting it soon after became part of a popular art group called "The Fool" (hence the naming of the guitar).   

The Fool collective created an abundance of pop culture art during the 60's including clothing, posters, paintings, and murals.  They worked for many British bands, among them The Beatles.  For further reading, here is an interesting article:  http://www.vintageguitar.com/12684/claptons-fool/

Drawing the psychedelic angel

Bruce supplied me with his sacrificial Gibson SG, primed, sanded, and ready to go.  The first step in my journey is to roughly sketch the design onto the body of the guitar.

I'm happy.

On to the pickguard.

Pickguard landscape.

Finally, the headstock.

That's all for now, folks.  I will return with more news when I start to do the actual painting.