A vintage racing car leans into its own speed. The body is drawn in bold reds, and the background dissolves into streaks and splashes that do the moving for it; greens and whites keep the palette balanced, so the energy comes from the handling rather than from noise. It is a picture for people who hear engines in their sleep, and it settles equally well into a modern interior or a deliberately retro one.

Technically, the work stands alone in this catalog: it is the only piece painted in watercolor and acrylic together, the two media giving the surface both washes and weight. The support is canvas, 80 × 60 cm (31.5 × 23.6 in): a size for above a desk, a workbench or a hallway console. It was, like all the studio’s paintings, a one-off: signed, with no edition behind it.

Cars are old territory for this studio. Before rugs and canvases, Derr specialized in custom automotive finishes, and the subject keeps resurfacing: the catalog also holds a hand-tufted Retro Speed rug, an independent composition on the same theme. The affection for the machines is not decorative; it is biographical.

A car portrait can be commissioned from a photograph, with the composition and size agreed before painting begins. Start the conversation with an enquiry and a photograph of the car; the studio replies within a day with how it would approach the portrait and what it would cost.