I don’t have any papers or certificates that say I am good at art. I guess you would have to say that I went to the school of hard knocks. They do’t hand out degrees for that. I grew up in a little town called Lakeville, in Ohio. I bought an airbrush when I was about 13. I used to buy magazines (yes before the internet) on airbrushing. My Dad had a body shop, and I thought custom painting was the coolest. I had left over auto paint and an air compressor.
Slash
Before I knew it I was known as ‘Crazy painter’, and I was airbrushing on motorcycles. Back then, people were building custom vans. This was in the 70’s, but the vans were a product of the 60’s when free love and drugs were the order of the day. I sprayed just about whatever I wanted on vans and bikes, and I couldn’t believe people would pay me so much money for that. My new customers would tell me to do whatever I wanted, so I did a lot of outer space scenes and tropical island scenes. The space program had inspired a lot of us, and I was no different. I still like to paint space scenes, and I think there are probably still people out there that would buy them. Here is a picture of what I used to do:
Dragons Eye
I went on to invent a new way to make vinyl graphics for cars and trucks. I die cut vinyl sheets into elaborate shapes and airbrushed inks on them. I was able to fuel a fresh market of auto graphics that swept around the world. At one point, I was the largest manufacturer of that niche market. I built a new factory, hired a bunch of people to duplicate my ideas, and had a ball with it. In 2004, I sold it out and retired. Well not exactly, I built a house myself which took 3 years, then I decided that I needed to create some more. I built a loft studio on my garage, and bought acrylic paints by the box, and loaded up on canvas and brushes. As I pushed paint around I found a mental creative zone that I had not explored fully. So here I am now, an abstract artist.
ATE-graphics
While I was building my manufacturing business, I learned a tremendous amount about internet marketing. The internet is like anything else, you get out what you put in. So I have put a lot in, and of course, since I have traveled the world, I have had a huge exposure to cultures, countries and people of all kinds. That changed me forever and I am grateful for those opportunities. I draw on that now as I drift to other places while I paint on canvas. If I had to do it over, I wouldn’t change a thing, except that I would have delved into fine arts sooner.
This road was not easy, I had 14 failed or otherwise fizzled businesses before I hit it big. I look at those failures as foundation building blocks by which I learned how business actually works. Again, school of hard knocks. It is just another road to reach success. I happen to like it this way. It is real.
Ignition
Image Credits
All Images Are © Randall Marmet
Randall Marmet Artist Bio
My name is Randall Marmet. I am a self taught artist and have been involved in art all of my life. Most of it was commercial art. I created a worldwide graphics company starting in 1991. I sold it in 2004, and moved to White Pine, Tennessee in the Appalachian mountains. I started my first art business when I was 14 years old when took up an airbrush and started painting motorcycles, which I loved doing. Bikers always appreciate original art. I am now centered on acrylics on canvas, and I am at home in this medium. I am inspired by nature and other artists around the world.
Blog / Website: Marmet Fine Art
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