During my Sophmore year at the College For Creative Studies I had the honor of meeting and working with Camilo Pardo, Alumni of CCS and Designer of the iconic 2005 Ford GT.

After years of training and working with Camilo I was asked for one of the pieces I had developed to be in Camilo’s annual Designer’s Night. An event his studio hosts during the Detroit Auto Show. The painting below is one of those paintings.

Forground: Process work of my painting sitting on eisel. Background: Paintings on the wall are Camilos.

This painting was actually my first car painting. A learning curve to say the least. I can still remember the day I showed Camilo I was so excited and proud. He was kind and constructive and told me “It had some errors”. I asked him “How can I fix it?” He replied “Paint over it and start over” He gave me a jug of Gesso and said, “Have fun”. The hardest lesson I learned at that moment was it doesn’t matter how many hours you poured into a piece if it's not right… it’s not right. And it’s worth it to start over. And I’m so glad I did. The red mustang painting was actually the result of painting over the first painting.

A Collection of time at the studio,

Meeting Boardwalk Empire’s

Michael K. Williams

Camilo and I were out at a local bar in Hamtramck. Taking a break from painting. Camilo as usual with his sharpie on hand and ready to sketch on bar napkins and myself enjoying a cocktail. When he turned to me and mentioned

Camilo “over by the billiards table is Chalky White from Boardwalk Empire.

Amanda “ no way here? no! why would he be here in Detroit?”

To this day I still don’t know haha but the group of friends MKW was with one was friends with Camilo. Soon the evening became unimaginable. And unforgettable. Since Camilo was friends with one of Michaels friends we all decided to ride together back to Camilo’s studio. And when I say Ride together I literally mean

Me and Michael K Williams were sitting in the back of our friends car. I was starstruck to say the least. And I just kept thinking do I talk to him??

Before I knew it he and I were chatting for those whole 12 min back to the studio and I couldn’t even recal the whole conversation cause the whole time I thought pinch me!

Once we arrived he was so kind, he was curious, he was engaging. He loved the studio and wanted to learn about what we did and how we did it. The photo where im leaning on his shoulder he asked me to really lean in get down and take a pic I felt so awkward cause I thought he for real?? lol am I allowed to lean on him??

Im not sure when the night ended or who left the studio first but I will say I drove home near to dawn and I just wanted to call anyone someone to tell them about this wild unexpected night.