Buggie Car Paint | Hippie Chick Heart
Tulsa, Oklahoma | April 2024
3D Form Painting | Metal
The owner of Hippie Chick Heart reached out to me about giving new life to a unique piece she had at her shop. It was a handmade metal buggie, roughly a quarter of the size of a real car, that she wanted transformed with new artwork.
For the design, I took inspiration from the personality of her brand. I incorporated the Hippie Chick Heart logo onto the hood and then allowed the rest of the piece to develop more spontaneously. I played with different colors, patterns, and ideas while keeping a fun, colorful, hippie-inspired feel throughout the entire car.
Unlike painting a traditional flat surface, this project required thinking about the piece from every angle. The artwork wrapped around the entire form, making the buggie feel like one complete piece rather than having a single front or focal point.
There was also a practical reason for covering the entire car. Some areas of the metal had begun to rust, so along with giving it a completely new look, the goal was to help protect the surface from further deterioration. I covered the piece using Rust-Oleum products and finished it with a clear coat for additional protection.
The finished buggie became more than an art piece. It served as a display outside of the shop and was also taken to different events, giving the business a colorful and recognizable object that could travel with the brand.
This was a fun project because it combined branding, spontaneous creativity, restoration, and 3D form painting all in one. Taking an existing object and completely changing its personality gave me another opportunity to see how artwork can live beyond a traditional wall or canvas.
