A Painter Whose Canvas Comes in Pairs

One day last fall, like many a bored teenager before him, Tim Garrett started scrawling on his sneakers. The difference is that Garrett, 18, is an artist. When the Hamilton High graduate, now a CalArts freshman, was finished, his Converse lace-ups were a walking canvas with an eye-catching city skyline executed in an edgy urban style. “People were like, ‘That looks really cool. Could you do something like that on my shoes or my backpack?’ ” Garrett recalls. “And I was like, ‘Sure, but it’s gonna cost you.’ ”

Since then, Garrett, who uses oil-based paint sealed with a clear fixative, has fashioned dozens of pairs of custom sneakers for friends and friends of friends, or for strangers who stop him on the street transfixed by what’s on his feet. The Van Nuys resident just finished a pair commissioned as a birthday present. The recipient, he says, “is really into Greek philosophy. I used Greek text, also a stencil of her daughter’s face. And she likes gardening. So I put in vines and flowers. She also likes religious studies. So I put in a Buddha.”

For a rockabilly fan, he created a pair of shoes accented with flames, hot rods and dice. For a client seeking a Jamaican theme, Garrett delivered some kicks with a portrait of Bob Marley and the Jamaican flag. Depending on time and work involved, the cost ranges from $150 to $350. And that doesn’t include the shoes themselves. But, he points out, “each pair is one of a kind. Also, when you get a pair, I do something different on each shoe.” Think of it as a twofer.