Editor’s Note – Garret Olson gets the Artist Profile treatment today from Bike Black Ribbon Test Pilot – JP Syverud. Garret is no stranger to the Fat-Bike department of stickers and decals. Before we take a look at JP’s artistic experiment, let’s visit some of Garret’s talented artistic expressions that we’ve turned into stickers.
Toast Gets Buttered
by
JP Syverud
Some artists really call to me, Jen Green, Mike from Snide Art, Bicycle Pubes. You know the truly innovative artists. When I first saw one of Garrett Olsen’s watercolors, I knew one day I wanted him to paint my bike. Garrett does some images for Tio Gomez at Fat-Bike.com, so I knew he would not fail me. I pitched an idea for my REEB DonkaDonk “Toast” and Garret suggested an idea he has wanted to do for a while.
The painting is like Davinci’s Vitruvian Man meets bike aerial view. Every time I look at it I feel like I am riding my bike. I proudly display it in my home office staring at often while I write. The painting makes me want to close the laptop and go ride… OK. I am back. ( Great ride!)
If you want to have one of your favorite whips painted, here is what you need to do. Start by taking some kick-ass pictures of your bike. Send them to Garrett as JPEGS with any special requests. He will work with you regarding the design and if you commission him, he will send you updates and stages of completion along the way. It is pretty cool to follow the entire process.
I asked Garrett to give me a quotable synapsis of how he got started. He stated, “I started drawing at a young age. My parents really encouraged me. I went to college for a couple years. When I went to college I went to my adviser and said “I want a digital art degree”. Well nothing like that existed in 1990 at the college I was attending. So they said “Just take as many art and computer classes as you can”. I was young and said “Sure!”. Well after burning myself out in the art and computer labs I had enough after about two years. As luck would have it, my computer classes helped me get a job with Cabela’s in IT. That got my foot in the door to the catalog dept at Cabela’s working with Photoshop. I did that for 20+ years. My day job now is with TJX in the media department for Sierra. A lot of the digital stuff that I do starts on my phone. A samsung Note 8. I use sketchbook as an app to take my ideas as far as I can on my phone. Then it moves to my Wacom mobile pro. Before my digital stuff got big I did a lot of watercolor. I still do from time to time. When I first started I used coffee cup stains as wheels on my bikes. Made a little bit of a name for myself doing that. Prices vary on what a customer would like done. Be it a bike, car, airplane…etc. I don’t do living things. I have in the past if a client would like me to but I prefer to stick to dead objects.”
Overall I am super impressed with his work and will cherish this piece of art forever. To connect with Garrett directly hit him up on the Socials (links below)
More from Garret
FB: https://www.facebook.com/garrett.olsen.543
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/zeroack/
Email: zeroack@gmail.com
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