It all kicked off at a local shop, McQuiston’s Custom Cycles. We’ve featured Ryan and his gang a couple of times in Cycle Source Magazine. They are as close to the notion of an old school shop as possible in this age of over regulation and vast and unrelenting technology. Ryan still bangs away on old Triumphs, Ironhead Sportsters, and Shovelheads. He’s been busted by the man, the Port Authority, city inspectors, Long Beach cops, OSHA, and the EPA. Oh, and building and safety, sorry.
I was at his shop interviewing him while welders buzzed, grinders sparked, and the cell phones rang. In the midst of metal dust upheaval stood a tall brunette bombshell painting a fine art skull and rose on the side of a chipped and scratched helmet. She painted with acrylics and brushes in her day-of-the-dead style. I was completely caught off guard. What the hell is a fine artist in skin-tight denims doing here, and what the hell is fine art doing on a motorcycle helmet. We started talking.
“My foundation secured in the historic tradition of portrait painting originated at Cal State University Long Beach,” Jessica said. “My unique style blossomed in my graduate program at Cal State University Fullerton, and manifested itself with technical prowess and sensitive attention, which I lavish on the anatomy, with expression and the detail of light, as it delicately illuminates a figure. My work is an amalgamation of both surrealism and symbolism. I love to create visual metaphors for and about my subjects. I also want to morph those figures and scenes to create my own ultra-reality landscape.”
I didn’t know whether to fall in love or run. The more involved I became with McQuiston’s, the more the notion of starving artists surfaced. With her masters in fine art, the reality of real-world survival continued to be daunting. Even in Los Angeles the struggle for artists, the competition, and the who-you-know mentality is tough, and she looked for alternative pallets. She found one in a dank, back street, custom motorcycle shop.
“I found a recent life-saving muse in custom motorcycle painting,” said Jessica. “I touched my first helmet for Ryan McQuiston at McQuiston’s Choppers in Long Beach. Ryan has been my friend and mentor, and I owe him a lot for helping me and encouraging me in this slick metal-flake industry.” She painted her first tank for Babes Ride Out, the largest gathering of All Women Motorcycle riders. “As one of the featured artists, I painted a tank donated by Lowbrow Customs, which was raffled at the event.”
The custom motorcycle world opened a fresh pallet for her talents. “My art is finding homes on many gas tanks and helmets prowling the streets of L.A. and abroad,” Jessica said. “I just recently won the helmet design contest for 21 helmets. It will be featured in the 21 Helmets collection and hopefully featured in some publications.”
So I coerced Jessica into coming to the Bikernet Interplanetary Headquarters to view my vast collection of eerie etchings and finger paintings by the Master, Jon Towle. In a warm moment of grace and artistic inspiration, we discussed a commission. We have highly secure metal doors on all of the Bikernet prison cells, er, I meant facility doors. It became a natural, a metal door sporting a Chinese dragon and a porthole. What the hell could be better? Here’s how it went down:
1. Brainstorming on ideas with Bandit and created some initial drawings before deciding on the Dragon lady design.
This actually brings to light another sordid story. Dr Feng, the Bikernet Certified Welder and Feng Shui Master fell in lust recently to a mermaid. Originally Jessica suggested a mermaid for the door. We couldn’t go there. The good doctor’s experience with the mermaid went seriously south, so much so, the mere mention of a mer… was disastrous. I encouraged Jessica in the direction of a dragon and of course chasing a 5-Ball, for the Chinese fireball, and 5-Ball Racing. We need all the spiritual help we can get.
2. Measuring the door, Jessica created a line drawing of the design and had it printed to size in order to trace it on the door. She backed it with Saral paper to transfer the sketch to the door.
4. She returned to the scene over and over, adding details such as pinks in the cheeks and shadows in her hair.
5. Jessica used an amalgam of different reference photos. For the 5-ball, “I used a real 5-ball given to me by the most auspicious and protective Bandit.”
6. Jessica wanted to make sure she had a strong, yet feminine facial expression and movement. Bandit said, “Attitude!”
7. Jessica hand-painted all of her scales with gold paint. “I also added metallic gold in her tail and wings.”
8. Jessica’s last few details included adding tiny orange specks in the dragon lady’s eyes, as she reaches for the glowing and auspiciously grand 5-Ball, the mascot of the 5-Ball Racing Team and 5-Ball Apparel Company.
The talented Mr. McQuiston rolled to the Bikernet nerve center ivory tower in the port ghetto this morning with his spray equipment to clear this magnificent thing of beauty. He worked quickly and respectfully, and peeled out in less than an hour. Jessica isn’t standing around. She’s about to throw her first art exhibit at the Attic, a certified dive bar (wait, in the interest of absolute transparency, we must make a correction. “The Attic is a nice restaurant,” Jessica corrected, “with an outdoor gallery.”) in Long Beach from April 7th to April 28th.
We’ll keep you posted on her artistic progress.
Jessica Fife
jessica_fife@mac.com
(562) 773-8863
