ENVY CUSTOMS

Frazer Day of Envy Customs is the artist behind The Troubles. A third generation professional artist, Frazer comes from a family well known in fairground circles. “I started painting when I was eight years old,” explains Frazer, “helping dad with his sign-writing and traditional fairground art. I was coach painting lorry cabs by 11, spraying by 12 and airbrushing by 14.” With a reputation across Europe for high quality fairground work, why transfer to scooters? “Last year I airbrushed a huge fairground ride in a supermarket car park in November and as I get older working on projects indoors is very attractive!” Fraser is largely self-taught and he sees this, combined with being a relative newcomer to scooters, as a big advantage when creating something fresh. “I’m used to looking at spaces and shapes, determining what suits them best – I’m not restrained by any thoughts of what has been and what could or should be done to a scooter.

“Being a fairground artist couldn’t be further away from being a scooter painter. I’m now working at a level of detail that’s fresh to me. The tiny strokes required to paint beards and eyelashes are a far cry from the giant sweeping movements I would have normally used on a massive piece of ride scenery. With a few more in the pipeline and even a beach buggy I’m looking forward to getting my teeth into the next project.”

Frazer has an interesting explanation of how his work on fairground rides translates to the smaller canvas of a scooter “On fairgrounds everything needs to be ‘turned up to 11’. It’s about creating an instant visual impact but surprisingly that doesn’t always mean bright colours and garish images.

“Take ‘The Troubles’ for example, there’s a lot going on there but it’s an easy thing to look at. There’s a mixture of monochrome and colour images but that’s not due to the source material, it’s a fairground trick. The eye finds it easier to absorb things set out that way. The Troubles has a wealth of detail but as a whole it can be viewed quickly. The subject is challenging but the artwork leads someone gently around the scooter.”

www.envycustompaint.com