Q - So what was next ? A- I started working in a box making factory, on one hand I was pleased because I started to earn some real money which meant that I could start contributing to the family household that had supported me in my younger years but on the other side of the coin I was not involved so much with my art. During this time I was always reading car and bike magazines and studying the artwork but for one reason or another I never even thought about airbrushing, I remem- ber showing one of my magazines to my then girlfriend now my wife, and telling her how cool I thought the artwork was. She asked me how it was done so I explained the process of airbrushing to her. Unbeknown to me she went and bought me a airbrush and compressor and I started practicing, it’s strange that I’d never considered airbrushing until then. Anyhow after a lot of trial and error I started to come to grips with things and I started to paint things for my friends. Pretty soon the word got around locally and I started getting some commissions in, mostly bikes and cars. The more my airbrushing work was seen then the more word of mouth was getting around. With the money earned I was able to pursue another passion of mine and I purchased a drum kit which I immediately painted. Banging my way around with local bands a drum shop owner saw my work and commis- sioned me to paint some drum kits. I’ve got to say at that time things were going quite well for me except for one draw back the factory where I worked were going more and more computerized and they started to lay people off. To be honest I had seen people that had worked there for more than 30 years and I used to think to myself this is not where I want to be in 30 years time. I got out while the going was good by taking voluntary redundancy which meant at least I’d get a severance pay out. But there again the airbrush work I was doing was at a reduced rate as I had other mon- ies coming in from my day job and trying to make it as an airbrush artist alone was not going to be easy.


Q - Well how did you begin on a professional level? A - While being unemployed I walked into a Funfair/ Car- nival and one thing that I noticed was that the rides had to be kept up to date with whatever was the most popular theme of the time be it dragons, skulls or characters such as Batman. Keeping themes up to date meant they were continually being painted. I showed the owners my portfolio and I picked up some work from them right than. Mainly touch up work to start but pretty soon I was doing some graphics. Then one day I received a phone call from a fac- tory that made rides and attractions for Fairs/ Carnivals they asked me if I would be interested in meeting with them. I was somewhat confused to as how they had gotten my name and number, it all became clear when I went to their factory for the meeting. You see there is a British airbrush artist Paul Wright who is a very famous here in Great Brit- ain. Paul had been taken ill with chest problems due to the urethane paints, he had seen my work at the Fair/Carnival ground and had put my name forward to the owners. The first job they offered me I have to say was a little out of my league as it was a very big mural. I had never done anything so big before but they were very good about it saying not to worry as they had quite a few artists that they could call on. They had another job in the offering, the square footage was the same as the mural that I turned down but it was all in separate panels that wrapped around a ride. The piece went very well and the company was pleased with the final result. What was also good for me was the fact that while I was painting I would get to observe other artists at work on big mural type pieces, it was a great learning experience for me. Thankfully Paul’s health improved and pretty soon he was back working. We started working on some projects together and exploring the use of solvent paints and their application. We soon found that the use of solvent based paints was the way to go, with the clear coat the colors were more vibrant and the work was longer lasting.


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