AutoPortraits Automotive Art

The Motorsports Art of Stephen Oosterling www.autoportraits.net
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About the Artist - Stephen Oosterling
 
Welcome to my online art gallery! 
   It all started at the age of three. I drew stop signs. There was something about them that got the 102 octane flowing through my veins. From there, it was drawing cars. I drew on the back of the score sheet for my little league baseball team. I just kept drawing cars all the way through college.
It was 1976 when I really got into racing and intended to be the next Jackie Stewart. I went with friends to the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen: blood red Ferraris with their screaming flat 12s, six wheeled Tyrrells and Jame Hunt in the dayglo Texaco/Marlboro McLarens.
   Just after I was married, a friend and I went to the Spenard-David Racing School in Shannonville, Ontario, Canada and I got the rush first-hand. I also came to the realisation that family came first. I am pleased to have tried it and it helps me understand the thrill, precision and concentration necessary in motor sports.
   I started painting and exhibiting in 1994 and was discovered by a nationally known automotive art gallery which opened the doors to quite a few opportunities and commissions. I presently live in Upstate New York with my wife and son (highest taxes in the USA, thank you very much...).
This is me on the right with the shiny head. The man on the left is Dan Gurney, who is signing the limited edition print,"American Triumph". This was a commission I did for the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen (www.racingarchives.org).
This particular print commemorates Dan's win at Le Mans in 1967 in the Ford MkIV. This was also the first time that the event was won by American drivers in an American car built by an American team.
It was a great honor meeting Dan, something I will not soon forget.