It’s now February so we’re starting on the first SurfGirl of the year. It’s been a long winter but just we’re starting to think about warmer days and summer now that January’s over – wahoo!

So this is what we’re thinking, we had such a good response to last years DIY issue that this year we’re going to feature some of your work every issue. If you paint, photograph, make stuff – whatever it is you do we’d like to see it. Each issue we’ll run a couple of pages of your work and put it on the website and in the app too. Get involved, get your camera, pens, scissors out and surprise us with your creativity!

Below is a list of the things that we are featuring in each issue and the deadline date to get your work in by.

Issue 36 – Homemade crafts – anything beachy that looks cool and funky that you’ve made using fabric, paper, shells or whatever. Deadline 1st March.

Issue 37 – Surf art – inspired by the ocean. It can be art on surfboards too as well as canvas or paper. Deadline 1st April.

Issue 38 – Photos – that showcase at your local break. Deadline 25th April.

Issue 40 – Winter – send your pics and photos in of snow on the slopes or at the beach. Deadline 25th September.

How to send your work in.

This is the tricky bit! So email me and let me know what you’re sending louise@orcasurf.co.uk and then send your images by wetransfer only – sorry but this is the only way to send stuff to my computer! Also jpegs are the way to go. Say which issue your work is for and include your email address on the wetransfer notes bit. The images need to be hi res and 1MB otherwise they are too small for print. Make sure the photos are well lit and close up.

Good luck ladies and get creating!

Thanks to Gemma Louise Fryer for her piece of inspiration!

So Wilma, when did you start painting?
I’ve painted since I was a little girl – I was inspired by my uncle who was an artist. He was very eccentric and charismatic and made his own clothes out of sheepskin and carved tables out of tree trunks. He used to let me watch him paint in his studio or on the beach. It seemed like a really amazing to be able to do, so I started painting to create my own fantasy world when I was bored.

Do you now earn a living from painting?
It’s not easy when you’re a single mother with three kids and a neoprene habit! It’s a bit of a gamble – you work your guts out for a show and you never know until the opening night if you’re going to sell everything or nothing at all. I was on a bit of a losing streak, so I decided to write the book, which has been great.
What’s really funny is that I sometimes felt a bit guilty leaving the studio to go surfing – but in the end it was a good career move because since the book came out, the prices of my paintings have gone up!

As a naturist what’s the most outrageous thing you’ve done?
Hmm, where to begin? Sometimes I look back and wonder how I did it! It could be appearing in nothing but body paint at the Royal Opera House, or a week long live-in performance in a London art gallery where people used to come and watch us cooking breakfast naked, or maybe flashing in the British museum!

What attracted you to surfing?
I think it was that Old Spice ad with Carmina Burana playing in the background! I never thought I’d actually do it, it seemed like something that happened in California or Hawaii. Then I married a surfer, but he completely put me off by taking me out in a blizzard in a huge swell in South Wales. (I think he might have done it on purpose so I’d be the one staying back on the beach with the kids!) Then I ended up living in Guethary so close to the ocean that I could see this beautiful wave from my bed… I thought if I don’t do it now, I never will.

Was becoming a surfer one of your biggest challenges?
Yes definitely, I’d never done much sport and was 44 and totally unfit when I started. I’m not sure how I kept going actually, it took me months to stand up, and I used to come out of the water black and blue.

What’s it like living in France?
Guethary is just outside Biarritz and it’s really the Basque country, so it’s nothing like you might imagine a little French village – a million miles from A Year in Provence. It’s also right on the border with Spain – I went down to San Sebastian for breakfast this morning because I was a bit bored!

What’s the biggest surf you’ve been in?
I used to be terrified when it got over about a foot, but I’ve surfed a few overhead waves now which is pretty exciting. Guethary gets enormous, but my limit is about a metre and a half – although I sometimes go out when it’s bigger just to watch and keep my adrenalin levels up. It breaks a long way out, so it’s easy to underestimate the size and arrive out there feeling like you’ve been dropped into a gnarly surf movie by helicopter.

What’s the best thing that’s happened to you since you took up surfing?
Getting to my feet was a big moment, because it took me months, but I was still in the white water with the Mamas surf club. So I think when I got good enough to paddle out to Guethary alone and take a wave without anyone holding my hand. It still feels faintly miraculous every time I do it.

Any regrets?
Living on an empty point break in Ireland for ten years and never getting in the water!

Wilma’s book Surf Mama is available from Amazon.

“I started out in wacky Brighton; I loved many things there but felt no real connection… I just found myself treading water in a sea of poor budding creatives. Cornwall though, reminded me of my roots.”

Tess grabs her latest work, Octopuss, and continues describing how she went on a mad mission around Cornwall to develop her collection of broken surfboards for the surf series, taking donations from Beach Beat, Home Blown, and Black and White. She passionately describes how, “With each board I started to discover something new I could try. I never thought I would be so intrigued by the temperament of foam. I found that all of my previous techniques and skills came together in this project.”

“The idea came to me after a surf one day,” Tess explains. “I spotted an old board dumped beside a tip that was snapped in half and beat up. When I peeled off the fibreglass, I found that the watermarks left on the foam underneath from our trademark Cornish weather were amazing!” And from there, Sexy Fish Lady was born.

Here’s a film of Tess creating Octopuss on a broken surfboard shot by French surfer/film maker Romain Juchereau.

Tess’s style is a remarkable mash-up of sensuality, eroticism and newfound art. The surf series, appropriately titled Sea School, incorporates more graphic design techniques than her previous works, and the whole spectrum of Tess’s myriad skills are used to vivid effect. Airbrushing, charcoal, mark-making, stencilling, carving, collage, and glass cutting are all on display. “Creating keeps me sane,” says Tess. “If I don’t have a balance of sport and art happening in my life then I go crazy and get all wound up, and sometimes feel depression getting its hands on me… This surf project has returned a real sense of harmony and balance to my life. ” For more info go to www.tesssheerin.com

Check out Tess’s online shop, and ‘Sea School’ will be on display in London 1 – 30th November, at the Graffik Gallery.

This film shot by Romain is a Hurley promo vid for their line of Surf London tees.

Words Kate Bambury. Photos: Tobi Carver and Romain Juchereau

Brown dabbled in many diverse careers on her way to finding where her true passion laid, the wonderful world of ART. Heather received her Bachelors degree in Fine Art from the University of Hawaii, Manoa campus and shortly there after hit the ground running.

Brown, now 37, started completely on her own out of her quaint Haleiwa rental while still working as a boat captain/dive master on the North Shore of Oahu. Five short years later, Brown’s dream of being a “working artist” not only has come true, but it “has surpassed my wildest dreams”. Now with galleries around the world selling her original acrylics, limited editions reproductions, and prints, Brown finds herself not only working as an artist but also as a true entrepreneur managing all of her own production, shipping, sales and marketing efforts.

Heather has been active not only for her own gallery, The Heather Brown Gallery in Tokyo, and galleries around the world but also as the “Artist of the Search” for popular surf clothing line Rip Curl, she is the artist behind the extremely strong “Plastic Free Hawaii” campaign and has done many posters for such notable events as the Kokua Foundation, The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, and the Women’s Pipeline Pro.

I initially came across the pottery whilst in my final year at University College Falmouth, where my chosen project was about the diversity of the Cornish coast. Whilst walking on the beach close by, I started to notice not only lovely pieces of seaglass but pottery too..whilst most of the pottery was plain, when certain pieces were uncovered I began to notice some that had beautiful patterns on them that I had to keep. Out of all the pottery I have found though, only some have had patterns on them, and no two being the same!

Three years on, and with my collection grown, I felt I wanted to do something with all the pieces I had found, and so began to design some patterns inspired through the pottery. My main reason was to share the lost designs and create something with a modern twist.
I also wanted to share the story of the mystery behind the pottery such as where it may have come from and how old it is..as well as the pottery once being marine rubbish in the water, only for it being recycled, smoothed, chucked out of the sea again,  for a little gem to be discovered by someone else.

I have produced a collection of 10 greetings cards, as an affordable and accessible way of sharing the designs, where I have left it up to the individual to keep the design for themselves, frame as a piece of artwork, or send it on.

‘Thoughts’ exhibition at StudioFourSeven Gallery, 47 Fore Street, Redruth.
Monday 5th September to Friday 9th.
Between 10am – 4.30pm

The collection will be featured in the exhibition and 10% of proceeds taken from the week sales will be donated to Surfers Against Sewage.

“I’m just looking to capture a moment that speaks to me in hopes it will speak to those who see it…
I started traveling the world when I was 16 searching for waves and learning about the world. There are just so many interesting moments and people on the road. Of course you want to bring those memories back with you to share with your friends and family and to hold onto forever…So I started snapping away…”

And recently her work was on exhibit in the California House at the Roxy Pro in Biarritz.

Here Kassia explains how it all comes together, take a look it’s a lovely film.

Inspired by the tragic story and images of Albatross chicks on Medway Island dying slow and agonizing deaths due to ingested plastics consumed in error by the seabirds, the Skeleton Sea artists, including collaborators Xandi Kreuzeder and Joao Parrinha, created a new installation and accompanying short film titled the ‘Albatross Exhibitionist’. Constructed using a selection of plastics recovered during a beach cleaning exercise in Msambweni, Kenya, the Albatross Exhibitionist measures 155x195x60 cm and represents a stark reminder to us all about the importance of cleaning up our collective act.

Xandi Kreuzeder picks up the story, saying: “The Albatross Exhibitionist installation and film will hopefully provide viewers with a rare moment of self-reflection – it’s a little snapshot of just one of the many negative impacts we have on the planet. The installation and film are intended to inspire people to think about what they can do to minimize that impact. Ultimately, we always strive to create work that inspires changes in behavior, and this piece is no different in that sense.”

After the successful unveiling ceremony at the International Ouiksilver Sales Meeeting end of May 2011, the Albatross Exhibitionist installation and film will now be on public display at a number of surf contests, starting at the world-famous Roxy Pro in Biarritz, France July 13. � 17. 2011.

And to help spread the word and raise awareness further and wider, Quiksilver and Skeleton Sea have also come together to create men’s and women’s Albatross Exhibitionist tees, each of which will be available to purchase in either black or white. It goes without saying, of course, that any profits from the sale of the tees will go directly to the Quiksilver Foundation.

For more information, videos and images from Skeleton Sea: www.skeletonsea.com
For more information about the Quiksilver Foundation: www.quiksilverfoundation.org

Well, he’s no monster at all. I just discovered the talented and sweet, professional surfer, Mike Losness paints as well on canvas as he does on the water. Not to mention the lovely hand bags that his beautiful wife designs.

Explore the work of this San Clemente couple:

www.mikelosness.com/art

www.modaviajando.com

The EASTPAK Gallery, open and free to all, will provide a great opportunity for talented, urban creatives to present and sell their work in a busy, like-minded environment, enabling these artists to reach a much larger audience

EASTPAK are pleased to announce Matt Sewell as the first artist on board. Matt originally hails from County Durham, Northeast England and is now based in London. Matt���s work draws on his rural heritage, fusing fairytale-like narratives, natural geometry, bucolia, psychedelic landscapes, utopian dreams and a symbolic treatment of animals and birds. ���I���ve been drawing since as far back as I can remember; I used to swap drawings at school for sweets.��� �Į�ĮMatt has been a professional illustrator and independent artist for over 10 years. He has exhibited in Melbourne, Osaka, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin and Tokyo and has worked with companies including Range Rover, The Guardian, V Festival, Paul Smith and the BBC.

For the ���EASTPAK Gallery���, Matt will be presenting a collection entitled Orbs of the Arboreal.
Matt will be showing a new collection of paintings and installations featuring figurines from his “Charmed from the trees” series of wooden birds. The exhibition is about exploring deep in the forest, psycho energetic artifacts of the undergrowth, new life and will o’ the wisp in the woods.

EASTPAK GALLERY
Launches Friday 29th January 2010
EASTPAK Icon Store – No.1 Carnaby Street, London, W1F 9QF
Free
For more details call Tel. 0207 734 0300
Or visit www.eastpak.com/carnabystreet and www.mattsewell.co.uk

The EASTPAK Icon Store provides the opportunity to view and purchase from all EASTPAK lines including Authentic, Core Series and EASTPAK collaborations as well as EASTPAK Apparel in a single location.

EASTPAK is the authentic brand for packs and bags famed for their style, toughness & functionality. Today EASTPAK also offers a solid range of clothing for men and women. EASTPAK is an urban lifestyle brand that is proud to support numerous bands, artists and athletes worldwide.