Natalie Thompson with one of her signature surfboards. Photo by Nicole Thompson
In the early morning, before the garbage trucks arrive, Natalie Thompson drives around town looking for discarded surfboards. She uses them as canvases for her vibrant paintings that have caught the imagination of many surfers and art lovers. Her art has made her a star in the surfing world for some time, even though she has yet to graduate from art school.
“The funny thing is that I don’t surf,” Thompson said. “I [just] love the beach vibe.”
In her sophomore year at Coronado High School, surfers started asking her to paint designs on their boards — something she was more than happy to do. In no time she had created a cottage industry that evolved from painting surfboards to using surfboards and other found objects as canvases.
Not all of her boards come from dumpsters. Some are given to her by surfers. Israel Daniel Dedina, son of coastal and marine conservationist Serge Dedina, is one of them. “I break at lot of boards,” he admits. “I’d rather give them to her and let her do her thing than just throw them away,” he said. “She’s a really talented artist and I think what she is doing is really cool.”
Over time her signature themes have evolved to include three-dimensional works such as a shell covered dress form and a starfish chandelier. Her canvases now include palm tree fronds and other iconic objects evocative of beach life.
Thompson didn’t invent surf art. It dates back centuries and is almost as old as surfing itself. Some three thousand years ago, artists in Peru carved images of surfers into walls. Today there are examples across every type of visual media from photography to graffiti.
Still, Thompson has infused the genre with an energy and passion that sets her work apart. It’s a style replete with dramatic lines, color and a flowing rhythm. It is also reflects her love of art and nature. “Painting has always been my passion,” she said “Even as a child I loved to paint.”
The La Jolla native came into her own as a student at the Coronado School of the Arts (CoSA). She and her family moved to Coronado after a brief stay in England in her sophomore year. Once here, Thompson’s talent was quickly recognize by her art teacher, Karrie Jackson, who encouraged her to pursue surf art.
Thompson evolved her style and began to build a clientele. Soon, vendors were calling. Jack Rabbit Consignment and High Tide Bottle Shop in Coronado have exhibited her work. High Tide has sold three and has commissioned more. One sold “even before we opened 11 days ago,” said owner Tom Latona. Surf Diva in La Jolla asked her to paint flowers on surfboard for them. Recently the Hotel del Coronado commissioned one.
Jackson attributes Thompson’s commercial success to “her keen eye for trends, communication skills, personal motivation and artistic curiosity.”
Unlike many other young artists, Thompson has “actively pursued aspects of marketing and sales strategies,” Jackson added.
A repurposed surf board that, until recently, hung in on the wall at High Tide Bottle Shop
While she has shown remarkable business acumen, Thompson is far being a money grubbing philistine. She is, first and foremost, an artist who “brings a unique combination of high spirited enthusiasm, open mindedness and kindness to her business dealings,” Jackson said.
For her part, Thompson believes she has the “right mindset” to sell her work. “You have to be able to ask for money. Not everyone can do that,” she said. She also credits her parents. Her dad is a financial advisor at Wells Fargo. Thompson describes him as ” a number crunching, budget driven person.” Her mother worked in corporate marketing for local TV and for the Union-Tribune before going into real estate.
Both parents are immigrants. Her mother is from Öland, an island off the coast of Sweden. Her father hails from a village just outside London. “I’m the first American in my family,” Thompson said. She has spent time in both countries and each has informed her art, albeit in different ways.
“Sweden is very inspiring in the summer time at the beach,” she said. “I loved the way the flowers swayed in the breeze.”
She describes England as “grey, boring, traditional and conservative.”
“When I moved back [to California] I was so happy to be back in the sunshine that those colors and paintings basically exploded out of me onto the canvas,” she said.
Thompson also has an exceptional work ethic. Home on break from the San Francisco Art Institute, she has spent most of her vacation working on commissions.
For one so in sync with Southern California, a San Francisco art school seems an odd choice. Her love of representational art and the surf culture doesn’t seem jive with the Bay Area art scene. Still, she loves the school, although Thompson does admit to being a bit of an outsider. “They are so conceptual. I mean someone paints a dot on the canvas and they talk about it for three hours” Thompson said.
It’s all good natured ribbing and reflects mutual respect. Still it is likely that Thompson will have the last laugh. She already has what all artists dream of, a capacity to make a living from her passion.
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Gloria Tierney
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
