Wave Watch'n

This is a print of a painting I was commissioned by a holden enthusiast, to put it mildly,  who owned this stunning, blue brougham.  It was back in the day of fax machines.  He faxed through some photos of his car collection and asked me to chose a photo and paint it with a kiwi surf beach, and that was about the extent of his instructions.  I’ve no idea how this guy from Arrowtown found me in Auckland, I never advertise.  He is the 2 ^nd best client I’ve ever had in terms of freedom, he completely trusted me, and I knew he wasn’t expecting any infinitely detailed sketches with side notes of paint blends.  So I drew an oval and scribbled inside it – rear of car. Then a line across the page labeled – horizon, with more lines below it – surf.   A squiggle growing from the side of the page – tree, some over-all dimensions and faxed it back. He replied with a “go ahead” without checking that the dimensions of the painting would fit on his largest wall.

The birth of the Holden Brougham was during the golden age of Jimi and Janis. M eanwhile in little ol New Zealand we were doing a bit of chanting and singing too...  John Rowles’ single, ‘Cheryl Moana Marie’, hit number 1 and for the first time Māori players are selected for the   All Blacks tour to visit South Africa, but had to go as ‘honorary whites’.  I was born in the 80s so I never got to experience the 70s other than through film and music - Stasky and Hutch, Forrest Gump, M*A*S*H, Charlies Angles and so on. It seems like everyone did a lot of protesting and amazing drugs while driving some kick arse muscle cars.

The painting was complete, I couriered it to him just two days after he’d sold the car, unbeknown to me.  He phoned me in a panic “Rach! The paintings arrived and, well, it’s huge.” (just under 2m long) “I don’t think it’s going to fit between these two windows”.  I told him to unwrap it first and then see.  Well, an hour or so later I got an estatic call, he sounded slightly tipsy, “ I love you Rach, it fits too”, turned out he’d invited his parents over and along with half the neighbor-hood to unveil the painting with a few bottles of champagne.

If you also have a thing for Holden's, relive the 70s with this printed artwork. Signed and numbered by me the artist, and comes packaged in a tube.  Giclee Prints are on beautifully heavy archival Hahnemule stock, certified by the Fine Art Guild.

A3 :: 16.5 x 13" // Limited Edition :: 100

A2 :: 24 x 19" // Limited Edition :: 50

Paper print as made using lightfast inks to keep your artwork looking as vibrant as the day you first set eyes on it for 100+ years. Remember paper prints that are framed will see it's lifetime double that of one left in it's tube under your bed.