UK Airbrush Experience - LONDON & DONCASTER May 2010

MAY 2010 Be a part of the new 'Airbrush Tour' with Dan & Beej - LONDON 1 WEEK at the Oi All new Studio in the heart of London (Farringdon, tube is Chancery, Farringdon, Kings X or Holborn) & DONCASTER S. Yorkshire (HOK Seminar Paintshop)4 DAYS: World Class Airbrush & Art Experience with Daniel Power & myself. Get to the website to Book Your Place NOW!

Sign Painting Experience with Beej @ the Organic Image Studio

ave you always been interested in signwriting and the art of traditional lettering, scroll work and lining? We have decided that it is time to promote the art of signwriting here at Organic Image so we are holding these very special workshops where you can immerse yourself in brushes, mahl sticks, lettering enamels and some good old fashioned scrolling. More info coming soon for 2009 dates please register your interest via email.



New dates for Sign Painting & Airbrushing 2009 coming very soon. If you have any queries at all about our classes and workshops on how to airbrush Photo-Realistic and Stylised Portraits, True Fire flames, Skulls, Pinstriping and many other artistic airbrushing classes then please drop me a line via email or telephone me on 02081 337738.

Painting Signs on Vinyl - New Experience with Beej for 2009

Recently we were asked to demonstrate some of our airbrushing onto vinyl signs at the Sign UK Show at the NEC in Birmingham. Response to these demmos was excellent and lots of sign folks and Letterheads (term for a Brother or Sister of the Brush) expressed a great deal of interest in attending a class specifically to learn how to use Auto Air paint, an airbrush and some Frog Juice to create colourful lettering and logo's instead of using an expensive, digital vinyl printer.


We'll show you how to utilise Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to design your files and make changes quickly and easily. You will then use these images for reference to paint the vinyl using water-based, Auto Air and new Auto-Borne paint systems. This is a quick and cost-effective way of utilising the latest water-based paint systems to add simple fades or elaborate designs to plain ol' plotter-cut vinyl!

Turn your skills and your plotter into a fantastic, money-making opportunity for signs and vehicle livery.




* Use the computer & software in a way to help you efficiently.

* Learn how to use Illustrator to make secondary masks for hi-lights

* Using Photoshop's powerful tools to quickly create visuals & ideas.

* Prepping the vinyl for Auto Air paint

* Creative Masking and Layering of different vinyls

* Using the Iwata Eclipse Airbrush to lay down the paint

* Clearing & Protecting the finished artwork

* Painting a sign panel and laying on the finished, vinyl artwork

Click HERE for more info.

Only £29.99 for an Amazing Airbrush!

This is really an outstanding piece of kit for the price. With everyone looking to save the pennies right now I can assure you, you won't be disapointed if you part with £29.99 for this, it really DOES perform! ~ Beej. Click HERE to go to website store.

Airbrush Classes 1 on 1 - 2 Days Save £100

We are all feeling the pinch right now and for some, custom paint for your wheels can be too expensive. What better time then to learn how to do it yourself! We have reduced our Airbrush Tuition cost to help those creatives who are desperate to learn more about this fantastic art form. Plus - Airbrush Classes make fantastic Xmas Pressies for a spouse, partner, family member or creative friend. You CAN afford to come to a class! Click this link to visit our website and see our amazing Airbrush Saver Packages for Beej's 1-2-1 classes in December 08 and February 09 and save yourself £100 in the process - cool!

The cool thing about the paintshop inside Customise Perfection is that we can aslo teach you how to use PPG paints & House of Kolor. If you'd like to buy HOK True Fire Red, Green or Blue Kits or single bottles in 4 and 2 oz sizes then vist This Link to check out our HOK paint section. We have Reducers, Kandy Koncentrates, Shimrin Base Coats, Pearls and Graphic Colours in these cool airbrush size bottles and ship across Europe too.

Airbrush & Photoshop Tutorials & Step by Steps

We have 9 very detailed Step by Step Articles with 100's of pics and tips so come on over and check it out. Plus, our messageboard is now completely free at Airbrush Art Forum


There are also Photoshop tips which we use all the time in our work for making visuals which we then airbrush and also, the supporting Photoshop files to d-load so come on over and check it out. Click here NOW! to visit Organic Image.com Airbrush Art Website





If you like what you see perhaps you may be interested in a class and some 1 on 1 Airbrush Experience with Beej too. Check out our website Click here NOW!

Airbrushed Portraits for Xmas Presents

I have been painting and drawing portraits since I was at school and have a real love for portraiture. I have been professionally commissioned for my portraiture for wedding pictures, children's portraits and pet portraits since I was 13 when my dad would go around hauling my portfolio to his pupils while he was teaching folks how to drive! I got my very first commissions that way and I am going to spend most of 2009 concentrating on airbrushing, drawing, painting and teaching portraiture.

Black and white pencil drawings, coloured pencils renderings, Sepia Tone, Airbrushed Portraits (my personal favourite) or full colour Airbrushed Portraits we can do them for you - ANY size! I have painted mural portraits on 30ft x 16ft canvas so don't be afraid to ask for something you may think is on the LARGE size ;)

We are taking orders now for Xmas but please do not leave it too long if you want to stay within the Christmas 08 deadline. Click HERE to visit the website and place an order securely on line for an airbrushed portrait. We ship WorldWide so if you are on the other side of the world, you can own one of our pieces of art.

You will need a good reference photo that doesn't infringe any copyright at all & you can email that to us. It MUST be good quality for us to be able to work from. We can also Photoshop a montage/family shot from several seperate images producing a group portrait layout that never existed in reality. See images like this HERE

Organic Workshop with Dave & Beej

What a cool pic of our workshop! Taken by a good friend of Organic Image, Clive flies helicopters and trains pilots so now and again we hear the roar of a massive blades outside and there he is, swooping over the treetops! Hehe. Gonna flame up that chopper but me thinks someone didn't hear me correctly when I said what Dave and I paint for a living! I meant the ones with wheels but hey - if it don't move, paint it eh! The Workshop is tucked away behind the disused B&W Nurseries on the A36 Road between Romsey & Salisbury so please, come on by for a cup of coffee and a chat if you want some custom paint work doing. Dave is there all day most days including Saturdays and I am there from Wed - Sat. starting Wed 12th Nov 08.

Also find some cool pics today while going through some of my old Paint Job folders so thought I'd share a couple with you, particularly this one, so enjoy fellas :)

Paintshop Creative Space - Organic Image + Customise Perfection

Organic Image & Customise Perfection have been combining their skills for the past 3 years and throughout 2008 have produced many works of customised art which will start to see added to this new Blog every week. Dave Matthews and Beej Curtis have 30years of creative experience, Dave in the automotive re-spray and fabrication world and Beej in the colourful world of airbrush and art. Together, they are an incredible team.

Well, loads of folks have asked me over the past year or so, where is Dave's paintshop where you do that airbrush lark? So here's a couple of pics of the space I have in the paintshop with Dave. Plenty of room for me and several students and a great space for 1 on 1 classes. The advantage of being at Dave's for some classes is the use of the spray booth and the fact that I do a lot of House of kolor and other solvent-based spraying here.

Check the website for new Airbrush class Dates in December 08 and Feb 09 in Hampshire. Click HERE.

We have a feed in from the main compressor giving us dried air supply so get no problems with moisture in the lines and have more than enough air for airbrushes or spray guns. The small, desk-top booth has been a real advantage and I've installed it in every place I have worked. You will even see it in the video (right in the Video Bar) in the latest ABATV trailer where you can see it in the beautiful White Horse Stable Rooms in Downton where I sometimes host classes. The surroundings are very green and lush and there is plenty of parking. If you'd like to come down and say hi then drop me a line first to make sure I am around as I have to be all over the place but soon, I am planning on spending a fair bit time at the paintshop working on new projects. And here are some pics of dave himself (Mr Elusive!) at work - as usual . .





Dave working on the VW Bug Snake Mural we did together earlier this year. We took this bonnet (hood) along to the Masterclass in Worthing. We have a scale model version of the Bug to paint soon so more on the that later . .







AUTO-BORNE are the very latest, water-borne, super-fine paints to come out of Createx. Amazing for details with little tip-dry and incredible airbrush detail - What you've been waiting for from these guys! White, Black & 8 Colours. Click HERE to go to the Auto-Borne Section and purchase.



Here's some info on the paintshop from Dave's website at www.customise-perfection.com:

Rear of B&W Nurseries, Salisbury Road, Plaitford, Romsey. Hants. SO51 6EE

Dave Matthews IS Customise Perfection! With over 30 years experience covering all aspects of body repair and repainting, he has a deep wealth of knowledge. This has allowed him to be able to produce some stunning, award-winning work over the years. You can now take advantage of that experience and when you place some work with Dave, - you will sure to be impressed with the end result.

Customise Perfection is now based just off the busy A36 Salisbury road in the village of Plaitford, Hants. We can easily be found just behind the disused B&W Nurseries buildings you can see from the road.

Having previously been based on the outskirts of Southampton, this new facility has enabled Dave to concentrate on the motorcycle side of the business which has always been busy. We have a custom built spray booth especially made to our specifications. With the latest lighting and extraction systems, its the perfect place to work in.

We also have a computer aided design facility for cutting vinyl graphics together with dedicated preparation areas. There is a locked compound and a majority of the vehicles and bikes we are working on are kept under cover at night. There is also a large parking area on site and an office / reception where we can offer you a coffee or tea when you visit.



Airbrushing, Gold leafing & Pinstriping Dave's new logo I designed on some cool demo tanks built by Simon Harris for the Biker Build Off held this summer (what summer?) at Beaulieu Motor Museum. On the other side, well . . our own logo then!



Svee working hard on the VW bug filling n a-grinding!

Oh, and Svee again . . does he ever leave this place? He loves it too much!



Dave doing what he's brilliant at doing - laying on Kandy in the spray booth. We have lots more video of work going on at the paintshop and we'll be adding some to DVD's, to AirbrushArtTV.com and here to the blog, so check back regularly . .

Mathewson - Power : Hawaiian Airbrush Adventure

I received pics via email a couple of weeks back from Dennis Mathewson of Cosmic Airbrush in Hawaii while he and Dan Power - Power Studios Australia were working on the Airbrush project boat there in Molokai. Dennis gave his permission for us to share the pics with you on our Blog so, here you go - enjoy . .



Dan Power is here on his last day before leaving Honolulu. From here he is off to see Mike and the gang at Killer paint. (Pics of that real soon). I was supposed to be flying over to Mike's and SEMA with Dan but personal stuff got in the way - next year then!


Dan checking out the Hawaiian sunset - lucky bast...!


Upright paddle boarding has become very popular in Hawaii. Looks like great fun.

Next day the guys were at Cosmic's to do some shop work....biz as usual!

Here is Dennis working on a gallery piece. I love his Tikki stuff, it's simply outstanding.

Dan was quick to jump in (hehehe) with this Kangaroo warm up panel. Nice eyes! Is that Skippy on drugs?

Dan setting up some other panels with the new Wicked Colors by Createx.

Next the boys are off to Molokai.... The island has so much history. Check it out by clicking the banner below:



Getting loaded up and now ready to go.....pretty cool having your own personal chopper taking you to work eh!

Molokai's Napali coast line is amazing, the incline is insane.

Waterfall after waterfall we must have taken 100's of pix. All will be great to have a reference for later.

Molokai is famous for deer goat and wild pig hunting. right in your own backyard. Skulls - Yaayyy! Hehe . .

Okay gang, here comes the good stuff. here we begin by the transfer of the drawings of the "ANELA" (hawaiian for angel)

Dan gets busy with one of his beautiful portraits on the front.

LOTS and lots of climbing and standing on railings on this job. Our feet were killing us after two days. Here I start painting the wrap around graphics on the side.

Doing so many jellyfish I decide to try something different, these are sea horses called sea dragons and as you see they look simular to my jelly fish painting in style and colors.

The reality of painting is when your airbrushes get rust from an old compressor in the air lines. Time to break down the valves and clean them after two days. This sucks when up on a second story scaffol. Don't drop that spring now...lol.

Dan makes his Anela look as if shes underwater. WOW! this is so cool I love the bubble halo on her head ...Lots and lots of bubbles.

After three days of intense airbrushing the final clear coat is applied. Fun with a small compressor but I manage to pull it off with three wet coats. this ends the night of day three and we are beat. after and night of rest and few beers with Gary's son Jess we are back to work 7:00A.M. the next morning.

boat pix next morning.

Dan did a bad ass job on the front of the boat. It was amazing to me to watch him work. I got SO much out seeing him do this face, I will never forget the tricks he showed me. (says Dennis)

Close up of the ANELA ..... I am without words

Dan Power is hard act to follow and I tried to pull together a Hawaiian tapa pattern into the graphics. This is a real old island style of Hawaii. I added the lots of special effect colors and flash to the paint as well as thousands of bubbles

Here is a close up of the sea dragon

Final top shot of the front with Dan and I. being pretty beat after this job we still had to finish the back, so now down on the ground (kinda)

Well at least we finally get to sit down,hehehe. With the I-pods jammin' in our ears we push through the back in about 6 hours side by side. Funny how we kept giving each other a hard time over where the reducer was.

With only one hour left we head to the beach where I found tons of coconuts everywhere. I busted one open for Dan to try fresh. This is paradise (for an hour)

Gary Galiher The proud owner of the ANELA. What a fantastic host he was and Thanks to him and his son Jess for all their help.

Veiw of Maui from Molokai

Time to head back to Honolulu....

YES' we did have fun!!!!!

On the trip and painting with Dan, Dennis says,'This Island has the true magic that is Hawaii. No traffic lights or nightlife here. The local community shares what we call the true Hawaii “Aloha spirit” just lots of friendly folks and tons of beautiful beaches, banana, coconut, and all types of fruit trees everywhere you look. Molokai was the second Island to form in the Hawaiian chain and has lots of raw landscapes. Molokai folks like to live the old Hawaii ways, going there can seem like going back in time. I LOVE Molokai and I think that rubbed off on Dan as well.
We traveled by private helicopter to get there with not many other options other than small plane or boat. I painted the helicopter almost 10 years ago for the owner Gary Galiher; a successful Honolulu attorney and my friend. Gary is a real hands-on hard worker of his ranch and SUPER host to us.
We went to Molokai to paint a boat for Gary. This thing was a bit of a surprise when we arrived. The size of this thing was huge! Well we got right to work and 4 days later it was finished (for now). I will return in December to add stripes to the lower of the boat.

Working with Dan was a charm and working together with another artist is a REALLY great thing to do and I hope more of you share your time with friends of the trade as we did. Dan and I are closer friends and we now share and a little of each other’s style. Connecting this way is important to any artist’s growth.
I hope you enjoy these pix of us working together…. Aloha Dennis Mathewson '

On the trip and painting with Dennis, Dan says, 'This trip to Molokai was an absolute pleasure and a privilege and I think I can speak for Dennis as well as myself when I say how grateful we were for this opportunity. We got to see one of the most beutiful Hawaiian Islands and Scenery from an angle and vantage point that very few people get. It was 4 very long days at some very awkward angles, but I would not change it for the world. The job was great and we are very proud of the result.

Working with Dennis was an absolute treat and I will remember this first trip to Hawaii for the rest of my life. The friendship and experiences of this trip have been amazing. We hope you have enjoyed looking at the photos from our adventure.'

And just to inform those who may not know - Daniel is coming over to the UK in 2009 and he and I are going to be hosting a Masterclass in Doncaster so get yourself subscribed to this Blog and we will keep you up to date on more news as it comes in about that. It promises to be something the airbrush community in the UK will NOT forget that Dan & I can promise you all! - Beej clcik the image above or This Link to go to the website and reserve a place today.