Custom painting or long term self torture as it is also known, is a path that is full of pitfalls. There have been some very dark moments on that path. And there were times when I wondered "Why the heck am I doing this?" I call those days, my time in painting hell.
So when I had the chance to write books about how to paint, it was a way to make all that time in painting hell worth it. I was able to pass on the brutally hard learned lessons from my time there. I really tried hard to put all I can into my books. Helpful hints, the different custom techniques I've learned and developed. Bodywork techniques taught to me by painters who are long gone. The latest info on paint and tools. A lifetime of painting adventures and misadventures in print.
For example there was the time when I thought I was finished with a job, basecoat done, lettering done, clear done, customer coming to get it and I realized the surface still felt slightly squishy. Turns out the paint store did not mix binder or basemaker in the yellow base, it was pure toner. I had cleared with urethane over the yellow, then cleared over the lettering, so it felt .... ok but i kept waiting for it to finish hardening. Needless to say it meant a trip to the sandblaster and starting over.
or the time I had a quart of catalyst and a quart of reducer on my mixing bench and they looked the same.............I could go on and on.

I bought a couple of books in the 70's when I started painting, and when things would go wrong, I would grab those books and rip through them desperately searching for the answer to a hopeless problem, knowing I was completely screwed.

I could go on but I try and put as much of that kind of stuff as possible in the books, basically how not to screw up when you are painting.

And once in a while I get an email from someone who has really had gotten a lot from my books. I got one of those emails today. I am so glad I was able to do for him, what I needed in the old days, when things would go wrong for me in the paint dept.

Here's what he wrote.
" It seems like I read a bazillion (that's a lot) of books and articles, but your "How to paint your motorcycle" book is so well rounded and hits so many important points, that it's become my Bible for painting and how to avoid mistakes.

I really appreciate it and you,

-Ford "

Thank you Ford. I am so glad I can help other painters avoid painting hell. Now back to my normal schedule of painting chaos.

On behalf of myself and others I would like to say thank you for putting your pain on paper ! Having you detail your mistakes and how you have overcome them has been a great help to me and I'm sure many,many others. I also love your experimentation and many "happy accidents" that have resulted in new effects and better ways to custom paint. A lot of painters won't waste their time or materials to spray a test panel a "different" way just to see what happens. If we don't try new things,our art stagnates and it gets into a "monkey see, monkey do" rut.Before Mike Lavelle painted true fire,flames were flames, different but the same. JoAnn, your marbleising techniques and detail and many other talents have help me tremendously. I will keep buying your books, you keep writing them.
Again, Thank You and spray on !!!