During my shows I often paint iconic people from rockstars to hollywood icons, to sporting heroes. Last month however, I had the pleasure of meeting and painting ‘live’ a man I believe to be a living icon.
For a private audience of 60 cricketing greats (including former players Mark Waugh, Glenn McGrath, Ian Healy, Tony Greig, Joel Garner and the majority of the Australian Cricket Team), I painted live, cricketing great and commentator Richie Benaud.
Having some fun with Richie on stage following the painting I asked him what he thought of the artwork. “I like it very much, I think you made me look younger”. To which I responded, that I was hoping for a “Super” (in Richie’s trademark commentary voice).
Richie responded that he thought it was “Marvellous, Marvellous!”.
Paintings of the signed Richie Benaud, Bono from U2 and Don Bradman were auctioned for the ACB charity.
Entertainment Agency: Prideaux Entertainment Solutions
Recently I did a show at the Townsville Entertainment Centre for the North Queensland Cowboys (Rugby League Team).
I speed painted two of the players in about five minutes - Jonathan Thurston and Matt Bowen.
Jonathan Thurston (JT) is arguably the greatest Rugby League player of this generation. Was pretty happy how it turned out - wait to the end of the video to see the finished portrait.
On Friday night, I performed at a ‘roast’ for Dr Shepherd, former AMA President.
It was a glitsy night with a celebrity mix of social commentators, politicians and doctors. My spot on stage followed an introduction from John Mangos (popular TV newsman), Allan Jones (social commentator and talkback host), Dr Brendan Nelson (former Federal Opposition Leader) and Dr John D’Arcy (well known TV doctor).
It can be a daunting task following such well known people, but I speed painted two great portraits in about 10 minutes (Bono took 3 mins - Dr Shepherd took 7 mins) which sold for $11,500
Just back from my show in Singapore. I brought to ‘life on canvas’ the F1 Williams car and lead driver Nico Rosberg. My original idea was to have fire streaming out of where I painted the exhaust on the car timed with the sounds of the engine starting, but the Singapore National Museum didn’t like the idea of fire (and I even went and bought a portable flame thrower too!). So I used confetti during the show instead.
It was interesting to see how things differ at events from Australia to Asian countries. Some of the other entertainment they had:
- Flair Bartenders
- Girls dressed in F1 suits on rollerblades
- Photographers that shot ‘live’ - ie. they took a photo and it appeared on the numerous plasma screens around the venue.
Overall it was a great experience and having taken some interest in my entertainment recently from other Asian countries (as well as Dubai and Romania!) maybe I can soon report on some other travel adventures.
