An Independence Day Salute to our service men and women. This is some of what you missed if you weren’t able to attend the Stars and Stripes event recently.

Thanks to our friend Billy Gordon for everything…

Photos courtesy of kurtzphoto@yahoo.com
and
Motorcycle Charity Associates Inc. 501(c)(3)
www.MotorcycleCharity.org

We recently announced the Stars & Stripes event at the Playboy Mansion benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project. Today’s Pic of the Week is a little body painted teaser from that event. Watch for more pics to come.

www.MotorcycleCharity.org
www.MotorcycleCharityAssociates.org

Thanks to Billy Gordon from Motorcycle Charity Associates Inc. for providing this week’s Pic of The Week. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

MzBHaven -Raven, showing off her
Anest-Iwata LPH-80 spray gun.

An Abstract Affair on May 17th, 2009 in Portland, OR was indeed an incredible event. Hosted by Terry Schandel and Jan Bowersock at Terry’s beautiful estate, we could not have asked for more beautiful weather or a greater turnout. The paintings by Barry Mack, Gary Reddick, LeslieAnn Butler and the sculpture by Martin Eichinger were amazing and beautiful. Linda Smith provided lovely background piano music and Duncan Neilson gave a special solo performance. Everyone that attended had an experience that was truly special.

It was an amazing show. Perfect weather and about 150 attended. Great food, fabulous wine and many wonderful people in attendance. Looks like it will become an annual event, so stay tuned. Hosts Terry Schandel and Jan Bowersock provided the venue and helped create a truly memorable event. We are deeply grateful for their generosity and friendship. Special thanks to Debbie and Storm Smith.

——–

see more of Barry’s art at AbsoluteArts

Images Copyright © 2009 Larry Hales, courtesy of Barry Mack.

Professional racer Jarett Tanaka’s Shogun bike recently got a new paint job by Dennis Mathewson. Jarett, also from Hawaii, just took state record on Shogun last week. It was built by Revtek, Hawaii and is cleared in a flat clear finish.

Beautiful job Dennis. Aloha.

All images in this post were provided by Dennis Mathewson at Cosmic Airbrush and Cosmic Tiki are © 2009 copyright Dennis Mathewson. Used by permission.

America’s Premier Custom, Sportbike & Performance Motorcycle Show happens soon…
18th Annual Los Angeles Calendar Motorcycle Show Weekend
July 18-19th 2009, Queen Mary Event Park, Long Beach

If you’re thinking about being an exhibitor… Exhibitor Registration & Online Payment is right here.

The 18th annual Los Angeles Calendar Motorcycle Show Weekend presented by Performance Machine, America’s premier custom, cruiser, performance and sportbike weekend returns to the Queen Mary Event Park in Long Beach on July 18-19th, 2009. Join 25,000 street bike motorcycle and music enthusiasts for the world’s most exciting 2-day motorcycle event weekend in the beautiful Queen Mary Event Park on the grass alongside the Pacific Ocean in Long Beach! This is the world’s premier motorcycle show weekend featuring some 200 major motorcycle and parts manufacturers, top name builders, selected exhibitors, product and apparel vendors.

The weekend features many of the world’s top Pro and Amateur custom street bike builders in attendance with their newest 2-wheeled creations of rolling art to compete in the Performance Machine Calendar Show Bike Building Championship with a bulging purse of $86,000 in cash and awards including the coveted Performance Machine Best of Show Trophy. There are 11 Calendar Bike Building Championship Classes including the premier Radical Pro Builder Class sponsored by Iron Works magazine as well as 10 other classes for American V-Twin Customs, Vintage Bikes, as well as Metric Sportbikes and Cruisers.

Other exciting activities during the weekend include the Calendar Motorcycle Show World Championship Horsepower Dyno Shoot Out, Calendar Bike Building Seminars, the Calendar Girl Model Search Pageant. 2008 Best of Show winner Jim Guiffra /AFT Customs has his AFT Model Agency Girls building an all-new AFT custom to premier at this year’s Show! Plusthe world premier of the new 2010 FastDates.com Motorcycle PinUp Calendars with the beautiful Calendar Kittens.

Included with admission both days is the 2-Day Calendar Girl Music Festival with beautiful girl bands including Cockpit, the AC/DC Tribute rock band Whole Lotta Rosies, and world renown Purrfect Angelz performance song and dance shows.

Spectators also get complimentary weekend admission aboard the historic Queen Mary Ghost Ship, and entry to the Saturday Night Iron & Lace Calendar Builders Party with a live band in the ship’s Observation Bar. Free shuttle bus rides are provided from the downtown Long Beach Parking Garages, plus there are paid Taxi Boat rides from Shoreline Marina direct to the Show.

Performance Machine presents the Los Angeles Calendar Motorcycle Show Weekend with Associate Sponsors Iron Works magazine, S&S Cycle, Mikuni Carburetors, California Harley-Davidson, ReCycler.com, CycleTrader.com / Trader.com, ThunderPress.net, Meguiars Car Care Products, Hooters Restaurants, Speed TV’s American Thunder, Mikuni Carburetors and the FastDates.com Calendars.

For additional LA Calendar Motorcycle Show & Calendar Girl Music Festival weekend details including the show schedules, hotels and parking information visit http://www.FastDates.com

Las Vegas favorite charity, Opportunity Village, played host for a great gathering of exotic cars and classics alike, along with a few hot rods tossed in the mix. This fun event was held at Opportunity Village Ralph & Betty Engelstad Campus and was a great way for us to familiarize ourselves a little with the organization and its purpose.

Sure, we were also there for the cars. With an impressive display like this, how could we resist? So, with camera in hand we snapped a few pics of a few of our favorites - some old, some new, some hot, some cool. There’s a little of everything in this mix. Enjoy.

Our buddy Tom Brazill of MotorCars of Las Vegas brought out a few beautiful cars for the day, including this amazing classic Ferrari in red.

A big favorite with kids of all ages. Hey, it’s a circus out there.

You don’t see these kinds of classics every day.

This Mercedes is a beautiful example of a how luxury automobiles used to be. Large and all hand-crafted, this is an impressive display of a time since passed in car manufacturing - for most anyway. And when it comes to bells and whistle, this ride has them all. This was comfort in a slower world.

Somewhere between old and new, classic and somehow not, this T-Bucket reminds us how fun pure unadultrated power can be. This one is all muscle and proud to show it.

We’re lovin’ this old 5-window pickup.

Check out this beautifully restored Charger R/T.

Classic Vettes are always cool.

But this screamin’ yellow high-performance Lister-enhanced Corvette is on the other end of the scale, coming in hot.

Classic and cool with the top down… and a perfect day for his ride.

Red and ready, two Italian beasts offer plenty for the eyes.

Of course, the yellow Laborghini rocks!

As does the white. Note the next phase of Opportunity Village behind the cars.

When it comes to Lamborghini, they’re all great! Fast is fast in any color.

One rare and amazing Porsche Carrera GT, this 2-door, mid-engine roadster boasts a 5.7 litre DOHC V10 powerplant. That translates into serious power. From dead stop to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 205 mph the GT is among the fastest production cars in the world. Only 604 were ever made available in the United States.

There was even something for the two-wheeled enthusiasts.

Like this beautifully restored pink pony.

A great show. Thanks again to to everyone for their participation. we’re looking froward to next year’s event.

Cheers from Las Vegas.

Opportunity Village is a not-for-profit organization that serves people with intellectual disabilities by providing them with vocational training, employment and social recreation services that make their lives more productive and interesting. Through Opportunity Village’s programs and services, hundreds of people with disabilities are learning vocational skills and being placed in jobs throughout the community. Good people with a good cause. We like that.

In the interest of responsible journalism, A.D. takes a moment to stop by the International Lingerie Fashion Show and Adult Halloween Show in Las Vegas for a quick pic with this beautiful bikini babe.

Dennis Mathewson sent us a picture of his amazing new masterpiece “Sea Dragon Reef”…

“I just finished “Sea Dragon Reef” and it’s on its way to framing now. It should be at Diamond head gallery on Maui next week sometime. I really put a lot into this painting and I’m very happy with how it turned out. The dichroic eye on the sea dragon really is something to see live, it changes color in every angle. And you can see the metal through all the dragon’s fins. It’s 50″ x 22″ on metal and really shows well. I feel this one will fly off the wall and sell prints very well as canvas and metal. I also finished a two part step by article for the world publication of Art Scene International with detail to how a painted it. It will appear in the next two issues over summer and early fall. I hope you enjoy seeing it for this is a sneak peak before its unveiling next week. This is something a little different from me but still “very Mathewson”.

The image in this post is provided by Dennis Mathewson at Cosmic Airbrush and Cosmic Tiki are © 2009 copyright Dennis Mathewson. Used by permission.

We recently discovered an artist new to AirbrushTour. Josh Cook has an interesting story to tell of art and dedication, along with another way to enjoy your morning coffee. We like his story. So much so we thought we’d share it with you. So, in his own word’s we introduce artist Josh Cook.

“I have always been into art. The first drawing I did was of a parrot when I was 6 years old. I drew constantly, eventually finding myself interested in comic books. Oddly enough I really didn’t have any interest in art classes or refining my abilities. I doodled and drew but didn’t really see it as anything more than something to do for fun. Also I found that I was really good at drawing what I saw but not very good at drawing what was in my head. I ended up becoming more or less a juvenile delinquent and eventually ended up in prison.”

“Luckily my story has a happy ending. Finding myself incarcerated I realized that if I ever wanted to be something, to do more than what had ended up locked up, it had to do with my art. I started out drawing cards for other inmates and selling them for envelopes and coffee, or art supplies. The supplies were limited, so I did what I could with them. I drew an hour a day no matter what – even if all I had was a golf pencil and a torn page from a book. I kept getting better and found myself doing portraits for people to get more art supplies (or coffee).”

“My talents landed me a job inside where I had access to paint and even an airbrush. Though I had more freedom in this job to excel in my art, outside of myself my supplies were still limited. Wanting to push myself and not give up, I discovered I could paint with instant coffee. I used a pencil and hair from the barber to make a brush until I could smuggle a real brush into my cell. I was released with what I had learned and when things have gotten hard I’ve had my art to fall back on and remind me of the life I wanted to lead. I’m currently enrolled in school for auto body collision to help me break into the custom paint field and I am saving to get a silent compressor so I can start airbrushing again.”

Thanks for sharing Josh.

Contact Josh Cook:
Email: tophatpainter@gmail.com
Myspace: myspace.com/tophatpainter
Other site: tophatpainter.deviantart.com
Blog: tophatpainter.blogspot.com