A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of taking part in the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, as a back-up vehicle. I did a few little jobs before the start of the ride, tightening nuts and adjusting a chain, and set off behind what must have been 500 bikes.

Mark Hawwa, who’s also the brains behind Sydney Cafe Racers, had organised the event to a tee, he’d even arranged for the sun to come out of winter hibernation.

Then, as I was tooling down George Street soaking up the sound of 500 cafe racers reverberating off the buildings, a couple of damsels in distress flagged me down, their Thruxton had a nail in front tyre! So, myself and the Bloodbikes sprung into action, and gave the girls a lift back to Deus to have the flat fixed.

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After a lot of hard work – testing, creating different types of stencils, and going back to the drawing board time and time again – here is the first incarnation of my Carbon Copy Series – A series, limited to 150 unique images, of my 1963 Falcon Ute, images painted in carbon by the car itself.

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As with many great advertising ideas, the Johnnie Walker F1 packaging idea didn’t even get out of the agency. But pretty soon after I conceived the idea, I realised that it would be much better as a piece of art.

I began conducting a series of tests, capturing the expelled carbon from the exhaust of my ute on different types of board, paper and canvas.

To cut a long story short, medium density fibreboard proved itself once more.

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I grew up with this picture of Sterling Moss etched into my memory. As a child, it always intrigued me as to how his face had gathered so much muck and grime, then my dad explained to me that it was thanks to the oil and carbon kicked out by the car ahead of him.

The creative mind, or at least my creative mind, is a mysterious archive of images, thoughts and memories, none of which are catalogued for easy to access, yet every now and again this jumble of data comes up trumps.

About two years ago, whilst working on a brief for Johnnie Walker Formula One my creative mind struck gold, or perhaps black gold, as they say in Texas.

Anyway, stay tuned for my launch of my ‘Carbon Copies’ series.

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Just found this shot of my old Harley Flat-tracker with my dad perched on the back looking rather uncomfortable, thanks to the bone hard, single seat.

Ah, those were the days, 17 years ago and pre kids, I spent all my time and virtually all of my money building this little baby in my North Bondi garage (very patient wife).

When finished, she looked like a dead ringer for an XR750, not that anybody in Australia back then knew what an XR750, or a flat-tracker for that matter was.

When I came to sell the bike about a year after the build, nobody wanted it! I couldn’t give it away. How times have changed… now Flat-trackers are all the rage.

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Throttle Roll seems long gone now, but the sound of bikes and bands still rings in my ears. I rolled up there in the Bloodbikes ute, dropped a few flyers and had a good look around with my youngest son, and we both agreed there was a lot of two-wheeled eye-candy there.

Thankfully, several Throttle Rollers thought my work was pretty sweet too, and a couple of commissions ensued.

One of which was for a particularly well-sorted Yam SR, commissioned by three mates for another mate’s birthday.

As the commission was to be a surprise gift, a stealth approach had to be taken. So one afternoon, equipped with my DNA extraction kit and one of the mates clutching a key to the Paddington property, we snuck into the garage with as much stealth as we could muster, and ‘stole’ the required DNA, along with a number of reference shots, then returned the bike to the exact spot.

The boys were so stoked with the outcome, that they invited me to the birthday party to witness the surprise gift-giving, and, thankfully, he loved it.

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Whilst down at R&B and waxing lyrical about Hawwa’s SR, Harley cleared his throat and said “wanna see something really pretty?” He steered me into a corner of the workshop, where a breathtaking Cafe’d-up CB 750 awaited me and Lola.

As an artist, and builder of several bikes, I found the proportions of this bike near perfect. Simple things like the placing of the headlight (often the mistake made is to mount it too high), were just right. ‘The Boss’, as the bike has been affectionately named, is the epitome of less is more, except when it comes to cylinders, where it has four (unlike many customs plying the streets of Sydney).

As subject matter goes, this bike really whet my appetite, and I couldn’t wait to paint the CB. So, after gaining clearance from Harley, I went to work harvesting DNA.

After painting the watercolour and tail-pipe carbon, Lola took it down to Harley, and R&B bought it. The Sump oil & tailpipe carbon awaits exhibition at my next show.

Below are some shots of the work (remember, I’m an painter, not a photographer.)

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A few weeks ago, I visited R&B Racing, down in Caringbah to collect some DNA from Mark Hawwa’s Stretched SR. Hawwa’s the brains behind Sydney Cafe Racers, and quite an influential character in the booming custom and cafe racer scene in Australia, and when he told me about his Yam SR Special track-bike, I just had to paint it.

When I first clapped eyes on it, I was a little shocked at the alarming red plastic mudguard, and wondered how on earth Roland Sands could have thought this bike was cool. But then Harley explained that the scrutineers on track day insisted that it had a rear fender – hence the pig ugly dirt bike addition.

The bike has an immensely long swing arm, which must give it amazing straight-line stability, but I can’t help wondering how it handles in the turns.

That said, it is a remarkably different looking bike, and ultimately, it created an amazing subject matter for one of my bloodbike paintings.  By the way, the painting is for sale.

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Aside from bikes and creating art, my ute is another one of my passions. It’s quite a special car – equipped with a 289 Mustang engine, it goes pretty well and makes a lovely burble. People often take shots of it, so I thought, “why not get the old lady working?” So here she is hard at work advertising my wares.

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Skip studied art and graphic design in England and, on leaving, became an art director working for some of the most revered ad agencies. Restless in London, he went in search of adventure, ending up as Creative Director in Australia’s top agencies. Over many years in commercial art,  Skip continued to paint, and over the past five years, has combined his love of art, ideas and motorbikes, culminating in the Blood Bike series.

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