Before leaving Australia I decided to travel and create a picture book with my artwork. But before I left I organised a raffle for a wooden art surfboard I co-created with my friend David from Sea Dragon Surfboards. David lovingly shaped this insanely beautiful, hollow wooden surfboard pictured above. It was exceptional and crafted out of a timber known as Palownia, chosen for it’s durability in marine conditions. I met David one day at a chocolate ceremony (a story in itself) and we got talking about turtles and their relevance in our lives as well as chatting about our love for the earth and oceans. I told him I was painting a wooden surfboard to raise funds for the Great Barrier Reef threatened by development and a gig I had to speak at the National Whale Day. David was excited to support and decided to donate one of his handcrafted wooden surfboards.
After picking up the board from him in Byron Bay, I decided that the best way to maximise the finished look of my art on the surfboard was to have it printed and then glassed inside the board. I contacted my friend Steve Webb from Insight Image who kindly printed the artwork at a reduced cost as he knew it was for fundraising towards Sea Shepherd.
When the board was glassed in eco-resin with a old school plug, me and David picked it up and celebrated our co-creation over dinner.
I then co-ordinated with friends who were volunteers for Sea Shepherd and local environmental activist groups to help in raising funds for Sea Shepherd by raffling the board.