I’m Jeff Unger, a formula 1 and military aircraft artist that has been drawing and painting my favorite subject since I was very young. I picked up a 1963 Road & Track magazine with John Surtees in his Ferrari at Monaco. Been in love with F1, and Ferrari in particular, every since! Did pencil drawings of the most beautiful cars in the magazines waiting for my next issue of R&T, Car & Driver and Sports Car Graphic.

My father was a traveling salesman and when he got home from his trips he usual had a model airplane he built during his evenings on the road . It went straight up on the ceiling hanging from a fishing line! Spitfire, B 25 Mitchell bomber, F 84 Thunderjet, F86 Sabre, P 38 Lightning (our neighbor Capt Jack Mankin was an ace in the P 38 and F 86!) P 40 Warhawk, F 101 Voodoo (the plane my uncle test flew for McD), and even the weird Convair Pogo stick!!!! Been drawing military aircraft every since.

Eventually graduated from pencil drawings to painting. Painting initially didn’t come easy, hard mixing colors on a palate. But a break through for me was reading about the printing process, breaking down to just 3 primary colors, white and black for printing. Now my palate just has a crimson red, bright cadmium yellow, Prussian blue, and lots of whites. No black. Yes, I can make black with the primary colors. I use oils exclusively, no acrylics. I can’t make black or dark hues with acrylic colors because they all have a white tint. Makes a dark gray at best. Acrylics have a major drawback, they dry too quick and a different color. Colors turn darker as the water base drys, making it impossible to repaint or blend. With oils I have at least 24 hrs to blend paint.

My favorite artists growing up included Fredric Remington, John Singer Sargent, N C Wyeth, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Norman Rockwell (a very underappreciated artist!) Rembrandt and other “realistic” styles. I learned a lot making copies of my favorites. My daughters and sisters all love impressionists, so I’ve done many copies of Monett’s and VanGogh’s for Christmas presents.

My family and friends have been admonishing me for years, “you need to sell your paintings!” I did sell several over the years for the Memorial Day Airshow in Columbia, Mo and prints to the family of the honorees. Also did a few Duck Unlimited art shows. But painting is my escape. When I’m painting, I fantasize I’m flying a P 38, an Eagle F1 at Spa, or driving a Ferrari 330 P3 down the Mulsanne straight! But now with digital cameras and printing, I can take high resolution photos that make excellent prints on watercolor paper, hi quality gloss or matte paper and canvas. So I’ve started adding paintings and drawing to this website for family and friends to view. I’m also a avid hunter, so I’ll eventually include my watercolors of waterfowl scenes. If you see something you like, or would like to commission a painting, contact me.

(Yes, that is me with my 1970 XKE I bought in 1974 while in college. And yes, I still have it. 3 total restorations over the years. I also paint cars!)