Still in 2025, around the time the Tauranga Runway officially opened, Market & Main cafe (situated right by my section of the runway, in the Historic Village, Tauranga, which is in New Zealand. North Island of New Zealand, as it happens) had a pop up Kiramekisan show. Not only were they super gracious in hosting my work, but their food & coffee are top notch. I may have had nachos there more than once…
“BKOOM!”. Now sold.
“Taihen’na jidaidesu” Ichi and Ni and “Doshin wa no guwa ookii” Ichi. Now sold.
The marketing worked! I have a hankering for nachos now…
Later in 2025, the opportunity came up to be involved with the Tauranga Runway project at the Historic Village in (now get this!) Tauranga. Which in in New Zealand, for those who may be unaware. Hadn’t painted on a road before, so was a pretty nifty learning experience. Went for Sakura and Hibiscus mainly, looking at the experience of those who have come to NZ from other places, notably the Pacific (hibiscus) and Asia (sakura).
This was the last day of painting, taken from the balcony above Market & Main cafe.
…and this was how it started.
Here, an old man wields a paint roller.
This was the pre opening day gig. I wore shorts. Found it a bit cold.
Opening day itself proved much warmer. Shorts were definitely a good idea this time.
Chronology be damned! Back to when we were still rollin’. And rollin’ some more. This is Mike. Paint Guru.
The hibiscus are framed in a Maneki Neko outline. Not many people know that.
Here, a pair of old men seem quite pleased that the majority of rollin’ (and brushin’ of the outlines – that was the back and knee breaker) is behind them.
It seems that each time I post now, I vow to post more frequently, due to being fed up with the algorithm controlled hoo-haa of things like Instagram, etc. Well, this time I mean it. Heh heh heh
So I'll be going back to 2025 and slowly bring things up to date.
At the start of 2025 (summer here) I was painting some old oil barrels. Not the first I'd painted, but I reckon they got a bit better each time.
Barrels were then delivered to the Incubator Gallery at the Historic Village in Tauranga (New Zealand). The Incubator is kickass – as is the rest of the Historic Village. You really should visit.
It’s almost NZ Art Show time, but I won’t be there this year. So I thought I might post the work I had in it last year, as I threatened to do in the previous post, almost a year ago. I’d had Covid at the beginning of the year which produced some ongoing issues and slowed things down a bit. So had a bit less in the show than I’d hoped, but they are all in new homes now, so that’s super!
Firstly, 4 61×91.5 canvases…
“BKOOM!”
“KRAKADOOM!”
“ZWUMP!”
“TRABAM!”
…then 4 50×50 canvases.
“Aki”
“Fuyu”
“Haru”
“Natsu”
You might notice that I was starting to play around with spray paint and stencils in the smaller canvases. More on that soon.
…I felt that something with a bit more surface area might be worth a try. A Specialized Fat Boy sure as heck fit that bill, and as luck would have it, a young fellow who used to give me a whupping on the race tracks had one such frame that he was keen to have Kiramekisan-ed.
Enjoyed it so much I might just do more! Next one might even be a carbon race frame…
In general. But specifically in this case – Zuckerburg, for how Facebook and Instagram have become steadily more crap to use as a tool to promote your art. So for now I’ll be using this blog more and hopefully can stick it to the robots…
Which means I’ll be zooming all over the place time wise. That probably sounds a lot more exciting than it actually is, but at least I’m not bloated and orange (yep – gone political…). On that note, I’m looking forward to visiting the States when there are better people in charge. Hopefully that can happen.
So anyway, back to the art. 2024 was my first attempt at the New Zealand Art show in Wellington over Kings Birthday Weekend. Wasn’t able to make it down there myself, but sent some paintings down and they all now reside in new homes. Domoarigatogozaiimasu to the fine folk who purchased a Kiramekisan last year – I’ll have 8 more in this years show. Below are last years.
“Himawari”
“Wasabi”
“Budo”
“Ichgo”
“Umi”
Please excuse my photgraphy – I hereby vow to improve.
Because Japan. Heh heh heh. And also, because I rediscovered bikes when we were living in Japan and I’m happy to say that they are a big part of our family life now (and also because our local library in Machida had an excellent English language Haruki Murakami collection and I read them all).
That aside, when this D Blocks Big Ripper came into my possession, I felt the need to make a change to the “Xmas Camo” paint scheme. And in a quite stunning twist of timing, I let rip on the frame & fork in the week before Xmas! I know. Spooky…
This is how it started out. Xmas Camo may float some boats, but not me. No Sir.
Underpainted with some yellow and orange. “Pre Xmas Sunset” if you will. But you don’t have to. Up to you.
Pretty much there more or less. Less was clearly not more in this case.
Yep – that’s Alf Stewart from Home and Away. Like most people, I’ve wanted an Alf Stewart graphic on a bike for as long as I can remember.
Bit of Banco and it’s a Kiramekisan Big Ripper!
After I’d finished desecrating it with spraypaint, it seemed only fair to put it back together. More or less stock, but with Skyway cruiser bars, ODI Longneck grips and Maxxis DTH tyres. I like the look of the Thick Slicks that it came with, but at 2.1, they are a little skinny for a 29er I reckon. Plus I’d like to ride it in the rain without terrifying myself too much.
It’s going to be a rider, so it’ll be interesting to see how the paint stands up to regular use – and if I’ll need to get the clearcoat done by a professional on future bikes. Of course, most scratches can be repaired with a sticker or two. Easy!
Not really. Interntions are pretty clear here! Paper masks, about 10 coats of gesso each side to make them a bit more substantial and here we are! With some masks. You may notice some Kabuki mask influence, which is most likely because they were heavily influenced by Kabuki masks. Hijō ni ōkina eikyō o ukete imasu..
May have mentioned before that I enjoy painting skateboard decks. Some Sharaku style kabuki actors and a monochrome Mr Sparkle background – a couple of aspects that I’ll probably explore further. The images are painted to wrap around the decks so you could hang them either way and have something a little different. But kind of the same. Heh heh heh.
Hey! You scrolled down again! This is a WIP shot of the wrapping around. As it were. Also – Down With Putin.
kirameki san experiences sustained loss of traction 