Motorsport fumes in his blood

GWYNETH HYNDMAN/Fairfax NZ

BUSY LIFE: By day, Graeme Dear has an administration job at Southland Hospital by night he's Toyota's "artist-in-residence.'' This weekend at Teretonga is Dear's busiest time of the year as he continues painting the winners of the New Zealand Grand Prix.

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All you have to do is ask.

That might be the advice from Toyota's "artist-in-residence" Graeme Dear, who leaves his job in Southland Hospital's administration department and comes home to paint drivers such as Mitch Evans, Andy Knight and Daniel Gaunt as they cross the finish at Teretonga Park.

And he's got a killer excuse to disappear.

For Dear, the run to his art studio – filled with photos, articles, portraits and "reference" material on motorsport; and then to Teretonga Park at weekends, sketchpad and camera under arm – is justified after he won over Toyota with his paintings of drivers for the New Zealand Grand Prix series.

Dear has had a lifetime of following the drivers from the sidelines. Even so, he is an unlikely placement for an "artist-in-residence", but for any motorsport-mad person, the title is a triumph.

"It's a buzz," Dear says, sitting in the sponsors' tent on Tuesday afternoon, under his paintings of Grand Prix Series winners he has depicted with every detail, down to the driver's helmet, that have given him a free rein of the track.

And – more importantly, he points out – a justifiable pass from wife Gretchen to hang around the track with his mates on weekends where all the action begins and ends.

As Teretonga prepares for Round 3 of the New Zealand premier race series tomorrow, Dear is also gearing up with cameras and paintbrushes (also a photographer, he paints from photos for accuracy) to grab the thrills from the track and put that feeling of crossing the line on canvas.

With some of his work hanging in homes in Australia, the United States, Europe and around New Zealand, the Southland Arts Society merit award recipient is far from a childhood spent hiding his talent as he prepared for life as an accountant.

"My mother used to think I was studying in my room," he remembers. "Really? I was sketching racing cars."

While he pursued a career crunching numbers, motorsport was where his heart was. In the 1960s he followed the Tasman Series, and watched from the stands as the Formula 1 greats like Chris Amon, Bruce McLaren, Jim Clark, and Denny Hulme tore down the track during his summer break, making his adrenaline rush.

He provided a tow car for Palmerston North driver Bryan Hartley in the 1970s – and describes himself as a car polisher, just to have one foot in the door – but lost touch with the sport when he moved to Southland, began a family with Gretchen, a teacher, and settled in to raise daughter Kate and son Hamish.

It would be 30 years before he picked up a paintbrush again, and it was to portray Hartley's sons Nelson and Brendon as they followed in their father's footsteps.

Brendon has since risen to the Formula 1 reserve, driving for Red Bull and the Toro Rosso teams.

Inspired by an evening painting class in 2004, Dear took his brushes, easel and canvas to the track and created a picture of Brendon as a gift to the family, a memento of good times in the past.

But he also sent a painting to Brendon's sponsor, who was impressed, and asked for more.

Bolstered by the vote of confidence, Dear took a lifetime of car racing fanaticism and a polished art portfolio to Toyota.

"I just approached them and said, `I should be your artist-in-residence'." Toyota sponsors thought it wasn't such a bad idea.

Seven years later, Dear is a regular figure at the track as he scouts new painting opportunities from a venue that has never lost its thrill.

Not just limited to the Toyota Racing Series, he has undertaken themes like V8 Supercars, Le Mans, and Formula 1.

It's a long way from just providing a tow car to be near the action, he concedes.

"There are maybe a half-dozen motorsport artists in the country – it's a small circle of us out there."

Being one of them isn't easy work. It takes about 200 hours for each painting from the moment the winner crosses the finish to the final portrait.

For now, keeping his art a hobby is enough – and the economic environment isn't right for it to become a reliable main income.

But he still makes enough on the side to give him credibility with Gretchen, as he dashes out the door on a Saturday morning for "work".

"Let's just say it's enough that the taxman needs to be told."

In 2011, he started using prints signed by drivers for charity auctions and fundraising purposes to raise money for the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal at the final round of the Taupo championship. Though his art has lately branched out from motorsport (he is working on palette knife oil paintings of European scenes for a gallery in Wellington), he still has some dreams to realise that involve his first sporting love.

"Bathurst," he says, without hesitation, describing the rush of painting the top drivers in the world finishing the Bathurst 1000, the 1000-kilometre touring car race held annually at Mt Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales.

Dear grins like a teenager at the thought of grabbing that moment at the finish. "It's definitely on the bucket list."

- © Fairfax NZ News

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