Please also check out my general DROOG79 blog and my art for sale site D79 Sells Out. Enjoy yourselves, and each other.

Crystal Caverns - Inspired by tales of Michael Peterson et al. taking acid before going surfing

Fiji - oil painting detail

The Mistress - A drawing for Dan Crockett's new zine 'The KooK'

Straight from the horse’s mouth: “I’m currently living on a Mexican beach falling off waves, coning Crayolas and Kryptonics, scratching a living as an illustrator, artist, designer, teacher, writer or whatever else is on offer. I’m still happiest with inky fingers, salty face and a wholesome head. My work is a vomitorium for my brain, escapism from the daily grind, influenced by everything I’ve ever seen, read or heard.”

Want to know more? Check out the Droog blog or buy direct from the artist himself at Droog79 Sells Out.

From one fellow Bristolian to another – lush!

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This is the latest development of my little characters. This picture is also a good illustration of how different influences can cross-pollinate. There’s one of my cartoon people but his hair has obviously been inspired by my line drawings of the sea which I’ve been doing completely separately. It’s really satisfying when different things you’re working on come together into one good piece.

In her own words: “With a dirty graphic blend and expressive raw lines, illustrator Diggy Smerdon brings to life the themed characters and creations of dream and sub-conscious. With this distinct style, she explores unconventional subject matters with weird but wonderful forms. Her quirky creations, unique faces and obsession with hands adds a mystery to her work. She conveys the idea of identity and the elements that form identity – including our sub-conscious, instinct and our soul – through her work.”

You can read more about Diggy at SUSO, or check out her website www.diggysmerdon.com.

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FIN (aka Calum Findlay www.calumfindlay.co.uk) is a talented musician, artist and surfer. This illustration was for his new album.

Drift: For those who don’t know you, please introduce yourself…
Meegan Feori: Meegan Rene Feori. Meegan, from a Blood Sweat and Tears’ song, ‘Meagan’s Gypsy Eyes’. But since my mother is a school teacher, its spelling changed to a double E which phonetically makes more sense in English. Rene is my grandfather’s middle name. Feori really should be fiore or fiori, flower or flowers in Italian, but its spelling was changed when my family immigrated to the United States.
I was born in San Diego, California and I grew up going to the beach in La Jolla, a Friday night and Sunday morning family tradition. Then in high school my father taught me to surf in Pacific Beach. I attended University of California, San Diego, where I studied Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts, a practical way to put my creative tendencies to use.
Since graduating I have been working as a lifeguard in the summer and doing some apparel graphic design and freelance illustration during the off-season to support myself. I have been lucky enough to travel to Costa Rica for the past two years to paint and surf. I am currently back home in San Diego working, painting and surfing.

Drift: When did you first realise that you could create art professionally?
MF: The first time I realised that living as an artist was possible was while I was in Italy visiting my friends, Esther Seidel and Patrick Steiner, who are both sculptors. I met them surfing in San Diego the previous winter. Seeing how they live and work helped me to realise that being a professional artist is possible. I really made the decision to become an artist when I was in Costa. It was the first time in my life when making art was a priority, and I didn’t have to work or attend classes. The ability to focus and create as well as the encouragement of my friends opened my eyes to the decision I had already made in my heart. Right now I see myself as an artist with training wheels because I am learning and growing. Also because I am not self-sufficient just selling my work.

Drift: What inspires you to be creative?
MF: I am inspired by the world where land and the ocean meet and by moments I share and witness that are emotionally charged. I hope that my paintings impact people in a positive way by revealing what is overlooked or difficult to express.
I believe in a world-wide commune of surf culture. It is a bit like music and dance, a common ground from which to begin. Surf culture and surfers are conscious and dynamic. Out of the water hanging out with surfers from my own city and around the world sharing stories, watching movies, listening to music, reading books and magazines, participating groups like Andrew Couldwell’s Club of the Waves and WildCoast help me to connect. But really all I have to do is enter the ocean to feel a part of something greater than myself.

Drift: Can you describe the difference between surfing and painting?
MF: Surfing is a series of beautiful ephemeral moments. Experiencing one for a short while, letting it go and then finding it in another wave in a different moment. Painting, for me, crystallises these transient moments of surfing and life, making them tangible.

Drift: What is the key to the perfect picture?
MF: My paintings, once finished, always feel complete. Perfect isn’t the right word to describe them. So instead, the key to completing a painting for me is understanding its meaning in relation to myself. My paintings illustrate narratives that serve as a beginning and are finished based upon personal experience. Once I figure out my personal story for a painting the physical process of creation flows, things fall into place and the painting completes itself.

Drift: What do you think you will be doing in maybe 10 years?
MF: I would like be living in a small beach town with my own family, supporting myself through what I create, travelling to metropolitan areas for art shows and business. Except friends tell me that in 10 years you end up doing something that you never expected and it is better than what you planned. So I am open to what will happen and will enjoy it as it comes.

Drift: Do you have a motto by which you live your life?
MF: It isn’t tangible, I express it through my actions, how I live. It is based upon integrity, respect and dedication. But since you asked for one, and I figure that I should have one, I came up with this: Dream to create, create to dream. It seems more like an artists’ statement though and could really be create to dream, dream to create…

www.meeganfeori.com

Andrew Crockett: Can you remember your first gig with surfing art?
Harry Daily: Yeah… I guess I was probably around 19 or 20. The Surf Gallery (Laguna Beach, California), that was my first big gig. I went to Australia after that and kind of got lost for a few years.

AC: Is that where you did the Sketch Holiday series?
HD: Yeah, in Australia.

AC: What inspired you to create the Sketch Holiday series?
HD: I was just bumming around Sydney to Byron Bay with my sketchbooks and some good pencils. I made these drawings all day long, at the beach, wherever it was great. Then I chose the best of those sketches and turned them into illustrations afterwards. Now they’re available as prints.

AC: How many images are there in the series?
HD: I think there are 13. Well, we print 13 but there are almost 20 out there, and more to come I think when I finish it up. Not that many: a dozen, a baker’s dozen, maybe.

AC: Surfers like Joel Tudor, Neal Purchase and Dain Thomas inspire some of your images… Did you surf with them, or did you see them in photos/movies?
HD: I was inspired by their personalities. Have you ever met Joel Tudor? He’s great isn’t he? Same with Purcho… I love that guy; so much personality, so much fun.

AC: Do you still surf?
HD: Sometimes. I like surfing in Australia, if I have the right board.

AC: What about skating?
HD: I don’t have a skateboard at the moment, but I would. I gotta talk that skateboard shop into giving me one… Maybe I can work it off? I was supposed to paint their windows, I should call that guy.

AC: You’re just about to head home to San Diego. Did you enjoy yourself in Cornwall?
HD: It’s been great, I love England. I went to Paris too, but definitely had more fun here.

AC: Do you travel much with your art, or do you like staying in one place?
HD: I travel around until I find a nice spot to settle down and make art and then I do it and try to find my way home when I am done. It works out really well. I had a lot of luck in Cornwall, it was great.

AC: Do you consider yourself a surf artist?
HD: I don’t think so. No. I should I guess? Do you think I am a surf artist?

AC: I think you can create surf art, but I also know your art transcends that bubble. What kind of work are you producing at the moment?
HD: Everything. Whatever I can get my hands on. Drawing, painting, sculptures. It’s fun trying to make my art my life. Ask me in a week, though, and I might have a different answer.

AC: How does it feel knowing people want to write about you, put you in films and generally know more about Harry Daily?
HD: It’s fun, it’s good and so they should. I have a lot to say. Maybe not right now, but someday.

www.harrydaily.com
www.switch-foot.com

Jair Bortoleto: How is your art influenced by surfing?
Yusuke Hanai: I surf every weekend, and most of my art is inspired by surfing, waves, and surfers. I started surfing at Shonan, the birthplace of Japanese surf culture. Japanese surfers think it’s kind of like California.
I love watching people surf as much as I enjoy doing it myself. I try to express the feelings you get when surfing in my art.
When I was kid I loved watching cartoons like Tom & Jerry. I drew cartoons all the time, all over the house. Later, I think when I was high school student, I saw Rick Griffin’s cartoon work. I was shocked. I thought ‘I want to draw like him’.

JB: You grew up in Japan, right?
YH: I lived about 30 minutes’ drive from the ocean and there were lots of surfers in my town. When I was a high school student an older friend took me and a bunch of people to the beach; we tried surfing for the first time that day and we loved it immediately.

JB: But you moved to the US to study…
YH: I was at art college over in San Fransisco, but while I was there my father developed leukemia and got pretty seriously ill. I wanted to be close to him so I returned home without graduating but I plan on going back someday.

JB: Did he recover?
YH: Yes He did. But it was a really tough experience for my family.

JB: Can you sum up your outlook on life?
YH: Hanging out with friends who have same dreams, ideals and experiences as me makes my life happy and fun. That, good surf and my art is all I need.

hanaiyusuke.com

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Surfer

Julie’s art practice draws inspiration from the natural environment, the sea, and surf culture. In multimedia works on paper and fabric, she mixes lithographic and woodcut printmaking techniques with sewing, embroidery, and other traditional women’s arts. The result is a hybrid, contemporary style with urban motifs and lively depictions of friends and family. She has exhibited widely on the West and East Coasts since 1998, including solo shows in 2007 at Lump Gallery in Raleigh, NC, and Corduroy Surf Company in Portland, ME.

She participated in the 2007 international group shows RoxyJam, Biarritz, France; The Greenroom Festival, Osaka, Japan; and Festival Almasurf, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Julie was also selected in 2007 to participate in Virgin Mobile USA’s RE*Generation Gallery benefiting homeless youth and The Happening art/film/music festivals in Newport Beach, CA, and New York City. Her work has appeared in ‘Surfer Girl’ magazine (2005), www.dailycandy.com, and has received honors from the Long Beach Island Foundation for the Arts and the Printmaking Council of New Jersey. She lives and works on Long Beach Island, NJ.

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Winter surf, Julie Goldstein, 2005

At 18 he packed up and left for Australia, spending three months surfing the East Coast, and his travels have seen him take in waves in Indo, Fiji, Tahiti and the US.
“First and foremost I consider myself a surfer – I can go without drawing or playing the guitar for a week, but I couldn’t be out of the water for more than one day. It gives me the inspiration to write songs and create pictures. My art doesn’t give me enough money to live so I work as a clothing representative. It’s a good job and it gives me enough free time to do my stuff. My dream would be to be able to live on what I like most doing: surf, paint and sing.”

www.myspace.com/johnfrankssmile

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the shore