Richard Markham

Project #1: The “Devil’s Ride”

While airbrushing at the World of Wheels in Boston, Mas- sachusetts last year, I was approached with a suggestion by one of my former students, Ed Gross of Voodoo Graph- ics, Keene, NH. He emphasized the fact that there was an extremely crazy, wild ride I should take a look at a few aisles down from my display and that the owner was very interested in having me paint it. Now at the time, I was into my third year of traveling the U.S. doing daily paint dem- onstrations for tech schools and filling every other waking moment with working at car and bike shows. Basically, I had no time to interest this guy with the fact that I could squeeze in some custom work amongst my busy schedule.

Later at the show, Ed convinced me to take a much needed break and walk around to check out some of the rides from the Northeast. Without warning, he escorted me right over to Archie, the owner of the black 34’ Ford that he spoke of earlier and introduced me as “Richard Markham, the guy you want to paint your car”…he threw me right un- der the bus! We shook hands and I didn’t want to seem rude so I began to entertain the idea and proceeded to ask him what he was interested in painting on the car.

Archie, dressed conservatively in jeans and a sport jacket, and displaying a tan in the middle of winter, looked as if he may have had the privilege of retiring in his fifties. He seemed very mellow and was a bit soft spoken, so in my mind I was preparing to hear that he wanted subtle ghost flames or just a simple pinstripe along the side of his hotrod. To my surprise he was interested in my real fire!

Wow, I didn’t expect that! He then began to explain that he loved what I had done to my “Ice Car’. In turn, I explained that what I did for the Ice Car worked great on an import car, but would simply ruin this crazy hotrod on steroids.

Archie then came out with the most popular question I have been asked during the 21 years of my airbrushing career, “What would you put on it if it was your car?” Instantly, I replied, “Are you kidding, this looks like it could be the Devil’s Ride!” His eyes opened wide and with a sense of clarity he replied, “I love that idea.” And the concept of Satan’s sled was born.

Now, because of my enthusiasm for painting demons, skulls, and fire, this project had my attention at its peak. It was time to figure out how I could pull this off with my schedule being so full. Then, Archie entices me further by telling me his car will take center stage at the next show he attends, only two weeks away. He goes on to explain that it will sit on a 20 ft. rotating, mirrored floor, and be placed at the entrance of the Frank Maratta car show in Hartford, CT as a feature. I, just like many artists strug- gling for recognition, would seize any opportunity to take the limelight, so therefore I quickly rearranged what I could to free up a few days and began to prepare for the job.

With the help of Body Works Unlimited, East Longmeadow, MA, I was able to pull the job off. Toni Bordoni (owner) and his crew disassembled, prepped, masked, cleared, buffed, and detailed the car allowing me to put my concentration solely on the artwork. I was able to start and complete my part in only 4 days and we unveiled the “Devil’s Ride” at the Frank Maratta show one week later. I never would have dreamed what happened next… (To Be Continued…�) Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32