Almost done with my work for this year’s NZ Art Show , so will post about that in a couple of days. In the mean time, these are from last year!
Himawari 75x75cm
Wasabi 75x75cm
Budo 50x50cm
Ichigo 50x50cm
Umi 50x50cm
I’ve also been working on my photography!
If you’re in the area over Kings Birthday Weekend you should get on down to TSB Arena and Shed 6. It’s pretty darn excellent.
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.
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.
Because there are 3… Backgrounds are based on the Mr Sparkle detergent box. One would have been fine, but I reckon a triptych works even better. I’ve done a few with the maneki neko frame this year – I’ll do some more on larger canvases and see how it goes after that. These are available for sale (as a triptych), so could be yours!
Thanks for scrolling down. You’re the best.
Not sure, but I reckon this is just the right amount. Saw out last year and saw in this by painting quite a few 12 by 12 in canvases. I think they call this a “photo dump”. Could be wrong – it’s happened before.
Let’s face it – taking decent photos of your work is overrated… Heh heh heh. Not really – and this was a reminder of my new resolve to take better photos in future. Or even better – take each piece to a professional to take even better shots. That’s the plan.
Skateboard decks are fun to paint. I like to paint both sides, because it feels a bit like cheating otherwise. Or something. With these I went for a Ukiyo-E type geisha character to the”graphic” side and went a bit wild with spraypaint and a halftone stencil (and a Mr Sparkle) on the top side. More colour for your dollar!
Graphic side – geisha and Powergirl!
Would look interesting with clear griptape! Although I probably wouldn’t recommend riding one of these…
“Gitahiro Iichi”. Commissions are great. Otto’s guitar is based on the Jackson owned by the new owner of the piece. Might have to do Ultraman Homer again soon too…
Here it is in it’s new home.
After painting the 88′ Cyclecraft I decided that I wouldn’t paint another small diameter tubing 1980s BMX frame given what a mission it can be. Let alone forks. So when a friend asked if I would like to paint his early 80s Hattori Pro Sight frame of course I said yes.
Not sure what brand the handlebars were, but they’re “Ut Tentacles” now.
Sure, it all looks great on our very old deck that needs a stain, but how about on a wall surrounded by some killer artwork?
I have a few more bikes lined up to paint this year – all have a lot more paintable surface!
The first triptych that I started (have finished several since) around 9 years ago. Used some fairly cheap canvases as couldn’t really afford much much else at the time. Because of this, the frame of one of them warped a bit pretty quickly, so I gave up on them and started on some new work. Had worked on them a little over the years, then decided to get ’em done after finishing the Matua School toilets job. And as such it’s quite a cool collection of different elements that I’ve been painting at different times. Anpanman and Baikinman for example – we’d not long returned from living in Japan and my wee boy was a big fan!
Was very happy to get this done – even more happy to see it built up as a real bicycle. It’s now back with it’s rightful keeper in Christchurch NZ. It may have even been ridden once or twice! Here are some photos, first with some white Fredz bars (the right bars for this bike, but not the right colour) and then with some S&M 7.5in rise Slams.
kirameki san experiences sustained loss of traction 