Surfboard Artist Has Pier Group’s Attention

Michael Brindley’s dream is to eventually have his own studio where he can create surreal space-and-ocean paintings on canvas.

Meanwhile, he is winning national recognition for his surfboard art, a dozen examples of which were on display Tuesday at the Newport Pier. The occasion was a photo shoot for Brindley’s portfolio, but the work also drew a crowd of admiring tourists and surfers.

“This was just a fun thing, but it’s celebrated the most,” Brindley, a 34-year-old medical supplies salesman, said of his airbrushed acrylic art depicting swordfish, dolphins and bare-breasted mermaids.

Some of the surfboards carry his signature motif of planets in space superimposed on an ocean scene. “I always wanted to be an astronaut,” he explained.

After the boards appeared recently in the popular “Baywatch” TV series, writers from surfing magazines began calling Brindley, who works out of his Costa Mesa garage, for interviews.

A surfer but not a fanatic, Brindley said he took up the sport after a trip to Europe at age 14. “When I said I was from California, everyone asked if I surfed,” he said, adding that when he got back home to Huntington Beach, he felt obligated to try it.

He began painting boards to help put himself through college, he said, and never figured it to be a serious occupation. “My mom told me that artists don’t make any money.” But he has learned since, he said, “If you do what is in your heart, the money will follow.”

At Rocky’s Surf City in San Clemente and Sakal Surf Shop in Huntington Beach, Brindley said, his boards sell for $400 to $600 apiece. If business continues to boom, he hopes within a year to be able to give up his job in medical supply sales.