Starting A Commission
During Sturgis 2018, a client came into the Gallery to talk with Scott about a commission painting of his rare 1939 Indian Four.
Later in the year, Scott flew to Minnesota to gather research photos of the motorcycle then began the brainstorming process of composition, colors, and overall feel.
After several phone calls with our client, Scott and Dan, the Photoshop guru came up with the perfect scene that both Scott and our client were excited about.
Inspiration Behind the Painting
“Some of my most famous paintings depict a full motorcycle in front of a unique background. I wanted to revisit that style and what better time to do that than when you have an Indian Four to work with?”
Example paintings that exude this iconic Jacobs look are ‘At Your Service’, ‘Freedom Riders’, and ‘Catch of the Day’.
The reason Scott started painting full motorcycles was because Franklin Mint asked to use his images on a series of Collector Plates. To make a painting that would fit, Scott had to come up with images that had enough space around the motorcycle so they’d look good in a circular format.
Paintings like this are becoming more uncommon because they’re time-consuming and extremely difficult on Scott’s shoulder.
If you don’t know about his motorcycle accident and shoulder replacement in 2016, read the story here.
The History Of The Indian Four (1928-1942)
Being very expensive for this era, most Indian Four machines were well taken care of by their owner riders. They were very smooth and reliable and become popular with many metropolitan police departments.
The reliable inline four-cylinder Indian motors were occasionally removed from a two-wheeled machine and used to power light aircraft and or other vehicles. It took some practice for police officers and other rider/owners to become accustomed to “torque reaction effect” of the motorcycle when under throttle. Cracking the throttle open harshly would cause the machine to lean to the right. When cornering, the rider would need to compensate or fall over. Nonetheless, the Four was very popular once one became familiar with its peculiarities.
Many land speed records were set with Indian Fours at both Bonneville and various other locations including El Mirage and Muroc Dry Lakes. The 1938 model is equipped with a rigid frame. In 1940, a new frame utilizing the plunger rear suspension introduced.
The Four was discontinued with the rest of civilian production in 1942 and was not returned to production after World War II ended. Indian Four are very sought after by collectors and enthusiasts. In 1999, as a homage to the original Indian 4, Alan Forbes a Scottish businessman based in Edinburgh began production of the Indian Dakota 4.
Source: Friend and motorcycle photographer, Buck Lovell
Creating “Indian 4 Life!”
“When Dan and I were at the computer, I was trying to create a period-correct background that everyone would enjoy. A place that, if you had a modern motorcycle and it was 2020, you’d want to pull over and take a photo of your motorcycle at that location.”
Once they were finished working their creative magic, it was time to start penciling the image onto canvas! From there, paint was added to the canvas working from background to the foreground.
“My favorite part to paint is always the motorcycle, especially when you have an awesome bike to work with” exclaimed Scott.
As the painting got close to finished, it was hard to contain our excitement. We were anxious to show it off to the world, but with COVID-19 being a large focus for people, we decided to wait to release it once the change in our lives wasn’t AS fresh.
This painting will be hung proudly in our client’s Minnesota home and prints in three sizes are made available to our collectors.
We hope you enjoy this beauty.
The New Release, “Indian 4 Life!”
Behind the Scenes Videos