freedom art studio

2010-11-11T02:10:00.000-08:00

NEW ZEALAND SHAPING LEGEND MIKE MURDEN HAS COME ON BOARD TO SHAPE THE DARYN MCBRIDE 'ARTBOARD' SERIES OF TRADITIONAL STYLE LOGS TITLED

"the 'd' models"

Mike Murden's the man that's kept surfers in the water in Mount Maunganui for longer than I've been sliding swells, infact longer than anyone else round here, the mans a bloody legend, and I'm honored to have his planner craft these logs!

My Art Boards (as shown in the flyer) are now on display as fine art pieces in the 'Koru Lounge' at the Auckland International Airport...
(business and first class, so I won't be seeing it again for a while.)

Also Showing at the 'New'
'ARTPORT GALLERY' - AUCKLAND INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Following the show in Taranaki I was contacted by the Artport, and I'm really stoked to be showing my fine artworks, and selected prints.
I also have a few new projects on the go, looking forward shearing some of them; including a sneak peak at the designs I did for Lower Apparel and Corrections.

... all this coming in the next few days.... stay tuned.

mean while here's another shot I took on the Taranaki trip...

enjoy, d.

2010-10-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

DELL TARANAKI SURF MUSIC & ART FESTIVAL

Presented By Dell Surfboards and my good friend Nigel Dwyer.

On the Radio with Arch at 'The Most FM' Taranaki

Shot : Adam Nowland

I managed a second in the log riding contest. My good friend Ian King won the event taking over the title from big bro Matt. So looks like next years Chris's turn (Ian and Matt's Dad).
Surf shots by - Mark Simpson

Another highlight was watching the the likes of Nick Sargent and crew for the south island.

Shot : Daisy Day

more to come...

2010-10-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

Ok so I need to learn a few new skills in the video editing / software / etc... Well watch this space!

2010-09-27T02:00:00.000-07:00

THE WAY WE SEA

A Collaborative Art Exhibition | Art by Tony Ogle & Daryn Mcbride

October 22^nd, 23^rd and 24^th | Fitzroy Beach. New Plymouth

Presented by the New Plymouth Boardriders Club as part of the
Dell Festival of Surfing Art and Music

Indicators – Raglan | Tony Ogle - 2010

Artists Tony Ogle and Daryn Mcbride, will be showing some of their most recent art works in a collaborative exhibition titled ‘The Way We Sea’. The exhibition will be held in conjunction with the Dell Festival of Surfing, Art and Music, in New Plymouth.

“I’ve been talking with Mark O’Connor for the past few years about putting together an exhibition as part of the festival that they already had underway. I’m really excited to be able to make it happen at this years festival”, said Daryn. “I ‘d spoken to Tony Ogle about putting together a collaborative show at some point. Tony’s been an inspiration to me as an artist for as long as I can remember, and it’s quiet an honour to be exhibiting with him now.

The festival also incorporates a traditional longboard surfing contest; so to celebrate this aspect of the event Daryn’s also releasing his latest Noserider model longboard.

The board’s another of Daryn’s collaborations, this time with surfboard shaper Peter White of Classic Malibu, Australia.

Artboard Collaboration | Daryn Mcbride – Classic Malibu

“I had the idea to utilize my skill as an artist and Pete’s talent as a master shaper. I wanted to produce an art piece that could be taken off the wall and ridden on the nicest days. A series of functional rideable artworks, boards that feature a one-off original artwork, laminated onto the bottom of the board. “

Peter makes some of the nicest boards your ever likely to ride, and Daryn having done some time under the guidance of Peter at the CM factory, says “I knew before approaching Peter that quality, shape and finish of the boards would be second to none . We’re only producing a limited number of these rideable works of art, I received the first board of the series yesterday and it looks amazing in every way, best of all can’t wait to ride it at the festival!”

Daryn Mcbride taking tea. Photo | Col .

Email; darynmcbride@kinect.co.nz ; to have the full exhibition catalog emailed to your inbox.

2010-05-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

THE NEW ADVENTURES IN ART

ANYBODY THAT FOLLOWS ART WITH A SURF INFLUENCE WILL KNOW WHERE THE INFLUENCE CAME FROM FOR THIS SERIES!

http://www.wolfgangbloch.com/

Wolfgang Bloch has been my favorite artist for so long now, I love his work and while I have spent the past 20 years perfecting a media that at times has driven literally mad!!! I finally gave up the battle and spent the last 18 months exploring acrylics, this has resulted in what I can only describe as Bloch inspired storms. While I felt a conscious inspiration, it was a subconscious result. I just wanted to show my style, 20 years of drawing waves in a contemporary style. I love the new works, and so did "The Skin Center' Tauranga New Zealand, so much so that they commissioned work based on 'The View From My Window'.

Original - 'View From My Window'(Acrylic on paper) 500mm x 400mm

This was the commissioned work now sold.

The remainder of the this series is now For Sale, I am open to offers on any of the work here.
Make me an offer and tell me what the piece means to you and see what comes of it!

Passion Means Everything

2010-04-28T00:44:00.000-07:00

CASTLES MADE OF SAND

I finally came to a resolution and completed my 'Castles made of Sand' assignment, I'm happy with the final outcome, and to be honest I'm a little bummed that its come to an end. On the up side, I've up loaded alot of my old favorites into the itunes and Jimi kicks off the play list most days.

(Acrylic - Ink - Albrecht Durer Water Soluble Pencil - 600mm x 600mm)
For further details on the project check out the information below...

2010-04-05T00:58:00.000-07:00

FAMILY PORTRAIT

(A4 Graphite on Paper)

(Digital Vector Art Proof)

(700mm x 900mm | Oil Pastel - Double stretched fine linen)

2010-04-05T00:46:00.000-07:00

VISUALLY INTERPRETING MUSIC
'Castles Made of Sand' by Jimi Hendrix

This was an assignment for illustration class, as part of my studies. It's due in a couple of weeks and while I have a number of other versions in a variety of media, this is the one I'm thinking of as my final, it's my first attempt at a realistic style of portrait... I'd appreciate any feed back?

My Thoughts...

Castles made of sand appears to have been a song about Jimi’s life, a lyrical biography.
Jimi’s documented as being a very private person, often reluctant to give interviews.
Not so forth coming with information on his childhood and up bringing, however in this song and others he seems more open to sharing snippets and insights
Castles however is the most information in one series of lyrics, and with this in mind I feel an appropriate visual image would be a self portrait, one featuring Jimi and the one thing that allows him to open up and share a glimpse into his past - His Guitar...
While the obvious style for Jimi would be a somewhat psychedelic style of image, with a swirling palette of complementary colours. I don’t feel this would have been the state of mind he would have been in to write such a song. It’s far to personal, and unlike much of his music; soft in tone.
So My idea would be to show Jimi in a realistic style. A style that shows the soul of the artist as he has bared his soul to us.
...from a commercial stand point -

Jimi frowned upon the Axis Album for a number of reasons, one being the mixing having lost the original mixes after Jimi left them in a Taxi, He felt there was not the time spent in mixing second time around as the record label rushed to get the album on the shelves in the UK (they held off on releasing the album in the US so as not to effect the sales of his first album)

The other thing that really angered Jimi with the album ‘Axis” was the cover art.
The record label opted for the style popular at the time with the psychedelic movement of the eastern Indian religion as the central theme. Jimi hated this and was reported as saying that it was inappropriate especially with consideration to his cultural heritage being that of American Indian.

Despite Jimi’s own personal psychedelic experiences and well documented drug use, it would appear as if he’d rather be linked with the psychedelic UK movement and the ‘beautiful people’ rather than the US and its long haired hippies.
This is also evident in his fashion sense, mixing his native Indian culture with the high street psychedelic garments of the time.

2010-04-05T00:34:00.000-07:00

MY LATEST COMMISSIONED ARTWORK

(Graphite on 200gsm Acid Free Paper)

(1200mm x 800mm Oil Pastel on fine double stretched canvas)

This painting was done for a friend, it had extra significance as the scene chosen also happened to be a spot with special significance to a family I've been close to since my teenage years, hence the title of the work - 'Ian's Walkway' in memory of Ian Porteous.

2009-11-17T15:13:00.000-08:00

* MY life in ART *

by Daryn Mcbride

A VISUAL HISTORY OF MY CREATIVE TALENTS

...this book is a one off hand painted copy of what I hope to produce in print. The book has been painted in 3 strengths of coffee and highlighted in white wax pigment mixed with Gum-Arabic

...I spent a great deal of time laying out the pages and have included a 'secret' compartment in the back of the book that has a CD containing movies, Art, Photos, sketches, and an E-Book digital version of the book in its entire 200 plus pages...

...also in the secret compartment of the book,
there is a limited edition retro T-Shirt silk screened by the artist himself .
(thanks to Sam at Diffuse Screenprint and Design here in Mount Maunganui for the use of the gear to do the T's).

2009-11-17T14:54:00.000-08:00

* THE FREEDOM ART STUDIO *

EXHIBITION KIT

The end of year exhibition for was held last night in Tauranga's Bay Court Theatre. Plenty of people turned out to view the works on display. I had a space which I set out based around the marketing of my book and t-shirts, along with a library work books, and a select few art works. Aside from this the tutors had requested work for what they termed the wall of fame. This consisted of around 40 works picked from masses produced throughout the year, from fine art to packaging that had been created by the students of 2009. Of the 40 works selected I managed to have 5 fine art pieces and 3 digital works displayed on the 'Wall of Fame', so that was quiet an honor.

2009-09-12T21:46:00.000-07:00

WAIKATO MUSEUM CONTEMPORARY ART AWARDS

(2010 POSTER CONCEPT)

Having seen that the winning entry for the Waikato Contemporary Art Award 2009 was literally a pile of rubbish, I took it upon myself to design the poster for the Museum for the 2010 awards (What a slap in the face that is to all those artists that entered works they slaved over to create).

www.tvnz.co.nz/close-up/art-trash-you-judge-2973575

check out this link for more on this

2009-08-24T01:22:00.000-07:00

NEW BRANDING FOR THE

~ FREEDOM ART STUDIO ~

Finally I've sat myself down and designed a logo for the 'Freedom Art Studio'.

It has been a long time coming but I'm really happy with the result.

The T's and Swt's are now avaliable, just email your orders to;

darynmcbride@kinect.co.nz

...and we'll arrange payment and shipping.

2009-08-24T00:51:00.000-07:00

* FREEDOM ART STUDIO GARMENTS NOW AVALIABLE *

* Limited Numbers *

...because we don't want to all wear the same stuffnow do we!!!

New Zipper Hoodies Out Now - $75 ($NZ)

* Hoodies - 5 Colour Options *

Guys * Green - Black - Espresso - Grey Marle - Navy

Girls * Green - Black - Grey Marle

New T's Out Now - $30 ($NZ)

*T's - 6 Colour Options *

Green - Black - Purple - Grey Marle - Red - Turquoise

2009-07-16T02:45:00.000-07:00

FISHIN FOR TUNES ON MEE GEE TARR

I really wanted to adda little music to the blog but couldn't figure out how, so I thought I'd put up this pic I did a short time ago, the back ground image is something I started putting into all this style of work following my trip to Portugal in late 2008. I was really insprired by the use of ceramic tiles as an exterior clading as well as decoration.
.

2009-06-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

NOW ACCEPTING COMMISSIONS

With the recent exhibition, the question has once again come up.

Yes I do take on commission work. Producing a scene of your choice, and scaled to suit is often the ultimate personal touch, and one that I'm only to happy to provide. However with my main focus for the next 3 years being my studies, I am only taking on 2 commissions per year, I have one on the go now meaning I only have time for one more this year... If your interested in commissioning me; contact - (0064) 0 275 413 533 - email - darynmcbride@kinect.co.nz

2009-06-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

LATEST ARTWORK - 'THE BOARD BRUSH'

My first introduction to Lowbrow Art was through a screening of film Pacific Vibrations, which featured the surfing and artwork of Rick Griffin (1994 - 1991), the influence this had on me was quiet profound; to the point that if I was to point to one particular artist as being my greatest influence, Griffin would be that person. Some of my earliest artistic works were poster art with a strong psychedelic feel to the typography, letterforms taken directly from Griffin’s style.

I first discovered the magazine ‘Juztapoz’ around 6 years ago at a Hot Rod Swap meet. This was to become my bible, as I discovered new artists, websites and inspiration with every issue; and with a side of my creativity would flourish.

As a former professional longboard surfer, I spent a period of my life living the dream. I had few responsibilities other than to go surfing, and report back to my sponsor with feedback on how the boards they had made me were going. I would help conceptualise new board designs, and assist in the development of new board models. This job came with (dare I say it) two major perks. I had plenty of time to commit to art, and my skills as a surfboard shaper rapidly evolved.

I once had a poem written for me by a friend, it went something like this “… your canvas the ocean, drawing out moves for others to view, board is the brush, artist is you.”

While conceptualizing ideas for this assessment, my initial thoughts where the vague memory of that poem, and an image that would represent me as the surfer / artist.

With this in mind I chose to morph a surfboard into a paintbrush, and illustrative metamorphosis was the initial plan. With 6 stages in the morphing process, to represent the six years I have been absent from the international scene in Noosa Heads Australia. The board was to be an old school single fin log, a favourite of mine. While the paintbrush I chose as the tool I wished to master through tuition. The one tool as an artist I have struggled to come to grips with. I sketched this concept a couple of times, but my enthusiasm to explore the various options had me put it to one side while I explored other options.

The next composition I came up with illustrated the choice I’ve made to move away from competitive surfing scene, and reasoned why I have chosen to shift my focus away from surfing, and into development of my skills in the field of Graphic Design. While it was a great concept, I still found myself returning to the initial concept as the strongest representational image or symbol, when defining my character, culture, personality and style.

The idea to create an actual sculpture of the board brush was simply part of the process and development of the idea.

In short, researching this movement has been an enlightening pleasure that I feel has been greatly beneficial to me as an artist, while simultaneously being an absolute joy.

2009-02-26T19:28:00.000-08:00

One For The Dunnie Door - Digital Art Range By Daryn Mcbride

I spent alot time over summer sketching, then manipulating digital artworks from those sketches. This combined with a re hash of a bunch of old sketches has resulted in a range of 25 original artworks, from which I have produced a limited edition run of 35 prints per art work. I have titled this series 'One For The Dunnie Door'. The Image size is 297mm x 210mm on average with a paper size 420mm x 297mm - and will be selling for $110 plus postage and packaging.

If you think you'd be interested in purchasing one of these unique works you can contact me via email on darynmcbride@kinect.co.nz ; I'll email you back a catalogue of the range along with all the info you need for how to go about purchasing.

2009-02-21T12:50:00.000-08:00

SURFING IS MY RELIGION

This art work is the rough for a piece I am looking at doing for an Easter Exhibition, to be hosted by http://www.harissonsgallery.co.nz/ The exhibition is titled 'The Cross we Bare', and will be a group exhibition; They are the only type of exhibitions I have time for these days.

Feel Free to download this rough, and if you have any trouble doing it, email me darynmcbride@kinect.co.nz and I'll send you back a printable version, its a fun little poster, poking fun at those who feel surfing is a sport!

Its an Art, a Lifestyle, a Religion; but who are we to judge what it means to one another?

Its just something we all enjoy doing, the thing that binds us, a common link that enables us to enjoy natures gift together with friends.

2009-02-20T14:39:00.000-08:00

DARYN MCBRIDE ARTIST – BIO

quote from my closest friend - Ange
If you’ve ever had the opportunity to get to know Daryn on a personal level, I’m sure you’d agree that he is an extremely passionate, soulful person, which reflects in everything he loves, believes in and surrounds himself with.
Through Daryn’s passion for surfing has formed an infinite love of the ocean, it’s here he draws his inspiration, which he then translates onto canvas. In his own words Daryn describes his style; “Illustrative, Bold, pure and simple seascapes and coastal scenes, rich in native colour, emphasized by strong contrasting dark outlines, and fine clean white highlights. I work in Oil Pastel on a fine canvas, primarily the medium has determined my technique. Using my fingers I find I really feel connected to the work, its very therapeutic, although after 16 hours straight, working on exhibition pieces with a deadline approaching, that therapy, feels a lot more like hard labour. Over the years I have become ambidextrous, I’m often forced to work with my left hand after wearing through layers of skin, gets a little painful at times, but by that stage I’m often so engrossed in the piece I can’t feel it happening, I just notice the blood. A true passion of Blood, sweat and tears!”
Daryn left school with big dreams and aspirations of living a life that involved surfing and art, a fine line between the two, and while Daryn focused his physical energy in to on surfing, specifically, longboarding. Daryn moved to Australia in 1998, and set about building a reputation as a true talent on the board. The perfect waves of Noosa fuelled his passion, not only for the art and skill of riding surfboards, but also a keen interest in the history, art and culture of the lifestyle that is surfing.
Returning to New Zealand shores in 2002, he shifted back to his hometown, Mt Maunganui to be closer to his daughter Paige. As fate would have it, a few weeks after his arrival home he re-ignited a friendship with an old high school crush, they knew they were soul mates and their love can now be defined by their three beautiful babies, Harper, Willow and Lennox, triplets born in April 2004.
Daryn oozes creativity and originality, realizing the potential that lay within him Ange began to encourage him to share his talents with others, put it out there for people to see, hence, we are here today. Daryn speaks of Ange;
“I’m blessed with the love of an amazing women, four healthy, happy children and a lifestyle often termed ‘living the dream’, life’s what you make it, I’ve made mine extra special!
We live beach front on the very stretch of beach I learnt to surf on all those years ago, the same bit of coast I that inspired the sketches that have evolved into the style I now have, I feel as though I truly have come home.”

To be Continued…

2009-02-20T14:29:00.000-08:00

photo : colin / http://www.surf2surf.com/

Retirement Or Fresh Start ...

The struggle is over; in my previous blog I spoke of a struggle I’ve had to hang up the contest vest for good! Well for me I finally feel that struggle is over!
I have made the decision to wrap up my contest surfing in favor of my pursuit of a higher education. In a couple of weeks I will commence my studies in an effort to gain degree in Graphic Design, so this coupled with a very busy family life means the focus and drive needed to perform at the level I would wish to aspire too, is know longer there.

Thanks to those who have supported me and the longboard series over the years, that most public of places has delivered me an emotional roller, one that I have battled with as I’m generally a very quiet and private person; Though for some reason the ocean has been the one place I have been happy to stand up and perform in front of a crowd, though often dreading the very public prize giving’s that follow such events.

For me now, I look forward to working closely with both Slide Magazine and surf2surf.com giving longboard info and feedback; via blogs and articles, on topics such as new products, board tech, trick tips and more.

With this being the first of such blogs, I thought it fitting to share an experience I had this past weekend. You see since deciding to pull out of the contest scene, I had taken a well earned break from longboard surfing, opting to surf a brand new 5’9” Honolua Keel fin fish I’d received last winter and had sitting in a corner gathering dust while I had the contest cap pulled down shrouding my eyes.
Getting out on this board was a blessing, with the champagne session coming on a solid day out front of home that left wax dripping from my toe nails, as the 5’9” squealed through the bowling shore break, my love of surfing was reborn; So I guess it was only natural that as the swell dropped away, and perfect logging waves prevailed, the longboard was bound to reappear, enter the trusty 9’6” Peter White special, coupled with a strong desire to ride the nose, on these gracious peaks that’d been groomed by the early morning off shores.
This was another relatively new board, it arrived just prior to my trip to Portugal last October, right around the same time I was signed for sponsorship by FCS. I really enjoyed the board, however this past week I had a bunch of new fins arrive from FCS namely the largest fin in the range, the ‘10” Hatchet’; The difference this fin has made to my surfing on this board, in particular its noseriding capabilities has been mind blowing. I set out with Colin to do a couple of photo shoots over the weekend, I normally cringe at a time such as this, what with trying out something as major as a fin, it can sometimes have disastrous results. You see normally I it takes weeks of shifting the fin back and fourth till that perfect spot is found. But not this time, I put the fin right at the back of the box, rub on a fresh coat of Palmers, and paddled out in front of Colin.
I couldn’t believe it, straight away I felt comfortable with this monster fin, it was just unreal. I found myself sitting in the lineup feeling like the luckiest guy in the world, what a hook up!!!

So just remember next time you feel the old boards not going quiet right, head down to your local FCS dealer and see what’s available, FCS have a thing called the test drive centre, where you can try before you buy, and with fins playing such a major part in how your boards going to perform, that may save you dollars, while making a lot of sense.
If you have any questions on how to get your board going a little better via fin changes, write up a comment below, I check the comments most days, and will do my best to help point you in the right direction.

Regards

Daryn

Thanks to my sponsors;
Honolua Surf Co – Smith Optics – FCS – Bodyline Wetsuits – Classic Malibu

2009-02-15T00:06:00.001-08:00

photo : colin / www.surf2surf.com

When I choose to compete as a surfer, regardless of my thoughts and opinions of surfing as a so-called sport?

I do take aspects of the competitive process fairly seriously. I will for example ride the board or boards I will be competing on exclusively in the weeks prior to an event, I will also try to seek out waves of a similar nature to what I will be forced to ride in the contest arena, and I will do this automatically, without giving much thought to it, I guess I’ve been doing it for quiet a while now, and so habits have formed.

I find myself wondering, are these habits the reason I seem to struggle with hanging up the contest vest for good, I’m the first to admit I have a serious love / hate relationship with the idea of surf contests, and the subjective nature by which a winner is decided.
I have experienced first hand numerous controversial calls, it is this very reason that makes me question my own sanity, when once again I find myself contemplating yet another series of competitions? After all, wouldn’t I rather spend time experimenting with boards, having the choice of checking the waves to see what board’s going to suit the days conditions, then getting out there to enjoy the solitude, followed by a fun play in the shore break with the kids, maybe slide into a few tandem, or help them catch a couple for themselves, seeing the look of over whelming joy, coupled with the shear excitement, witnessed on the faces of my children, as we introduce them to a life with the ocean as their playground, is truly priceless. So… what am I thinking?

Well while I try to determine just what my summer might hold, I decided to play around with boards anyway, I even shaped up an Alaia (a traditional Hawaiian surf or belly board) just keeping the inspiration flowing, having watched my close friends master these boards over the past few years has really left me with a sense of longing, and a desire to experience the ride first hand.
While I do have a fairly substantial quiver, of which; none of the boards really suit the ‘Hyundai Longboard Pro Tour judging Criteria’, but all of which; I’d love to spend time on this summer, working out the sweet spots, figuring out which waves best suit each one. After all; since I returned from Portugal in October, I have tried to spend as much time on my short boards as possible, primarily two of them, a 5’9” Honolua keel fin and a 6’2” Honolua single fin egg, Both boards are standard shapes from the Honolua Surf Co’ range, shaped on the gold coast by Daniel Macdonald. Both boards are absolute art pieces, as well as a huge amount of fun.
The other board I have been riding a lot is a 9’6” Peter White shaped noserider (Classic Malibu). I have ridden a lot of boards shaped by Peter over the years, and can’t recall ever riding a dud!
He shapes boards in models, Performer, Noserider etc… and they all work perfectly as they are intended; this boards no exception, Nose rides like a dream. So stable just the right amount of drag, essentially holding you tight in the pocket for extended periods of tip time, you’ve got to love a great noseriding board, if you call yourself a longboarder and haven’t spent time on one, you really don’t know what your missing!

So all this said, the question still remains… might just play it one card at a time, any thoughts?

Checkout – http://www.tomwegenersurfboards.com/ Tom was recently awarded Surfer Magazines Shaper of the year, for his work with the Alaia.