Paint my truck: talented artist Rochelle Thomas
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Five years ago Rochelle Thomas had no idea she had an artistic bone in her body. But now, she’s the person you need to call if you want a creative memoir of your favourite vehicle.
Rochelle loves to paint. She can paint anything, and loves creating artistic pieces of birds and scenery. But her main passion is cars – or any vehicles.
Most artists start showing signs of talent as a child, but for Rochelle, she only decided to pick up a paintbrush in 2011, and even surprised herself with the results. Her cousin is an artist, so it’s obviously in her blood, and she remembers being able to spend hours staring at her cousin’s work.
Two years later, she won the Peoples’ Choice award at the 2013 Wai Art Group Exhibition at the Carterton Events Centre with her painting of a sparrow. This urged her to take her gift to a semi-professional level.
Although she works full-time as a customer service representative at AAA Partsworld in Masterton, she spends all her free time doing commission work; painting trucks, cars and other vehicles for customers all over New Zealand.
She gets most of her work through her Facebook page, but also gets invited to attend various car shows and drags around the country to showcase her work. Beach Hop in Whanagamata is next on her calendar.
Customers send in a photo and Rochelle uses acrylic paint on canvas to create her masterpiece – their vehicle on her own implemented background. The paintings vary in size from 20-by-16 to 40-by-30 inches.
"I would love to be able to paint full-time one day, but for now it’s just a hobby that takes up all my free time," she laughs.
For more information, visit her Facebook page.
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