Surf Art

I am an avid surfer. I've been surfing and doing art my whole life. Every now and then the two overlap. I will record some of these overlaps on this page.

In my backyard is a pile of dead broken surfboards. I have loved everyone of them and surfed hundreds of waves on each, repairing them over years until they were beyond repair. Then they go to my surfboard graveyard pile. I sometimes think of ways to resurrect some of them, this is the story of one...

I found this board at the Koby Swap Meet a few years ago. It was in good condition. I bought it from an estate sale for $60, which is a great price for a 8 foot round nose trifin. I rode it all over the place, including several road trips through Baja. At one point, The leash ripped through the backside, and I fixed it. At another point, the whole nose skin tore back, which I also repaired. Finally, a skeg (fin) broke off. It looked like hell, so I tossed it into "The Pile". Last week, with abundant time on my hands, due to COVID-19, I pulled it from the pile and started repairing every ding, and added on a new skeg. It now has three different skegs. I surfed it, and it rode as great as ever, but it was so ugly it looked like Frankenstein. I decided to paint a picture over the ugliness. This is interesting because I have never painted pictures on my surfboards. I've always kept the two worlds separate.

I did a bit of research on how to paint on a surfboard correctly, collected my supplies, and made a fun sketch. I drew a Hawksbill Sea Turtle with an octopus on its back. I created my version of that classic vintage octopus illustration, with a star fish and a sea urchin.

I finished the painting, clear coated it and removed the remaining wax. I'm pretty happy with my little experiment, and looking forward to the idea of surfing on one of my paintings...off to the beach!

I joined my surf buddy Veronica and headed to an obscure reef in La Jolla. It was a small day, with warm water...waxed it up, and paddled out. My son Sage photographed our surf session.