Southwind Airbrush
Joe Keller
1585 Main St.
Fryeburg, Maine
04037
207.256.0130
Artwork has been my passion since I was 5 years old, drawing on a roll of brown wrapping paper. At 11 years old my drawings of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington hung in the front of the 5th grade room all year. At 15 years old I painted a horse on my living room wall, much to the pride of my parents. At 17 years old I painted “Ratfink” on the side of my car and my tee shirts, much to the chagrin of my parents and girlfriend. I started selling framed pencil drawings at art and craft shows after I got out of the Army in 1968 when I moved to Tucson AZ.
I have worked at various types of jobs in my life including 16 years as an underground miner in a copper mine in Arizona and New Mexico, but not even dynamite blasting gave me the same sense of fulfillment as artwork.
In 1979 I bought my first airbrush, which opened a whole new field for me. Two months later I did my first murals on the tailgate of a pickup truck and assorted tee shirts.
I moved to Taos New Mexico in 1980, built a solar heated home and started painting tee shirts, motorcycles, helmets, lowrider cars and pickup trucks and vans as time and opportunity permitted. My pencil drawings and airbrush fine art demonstrations were included in the first “Meet the Artist” show in Taos in 1984 and a juried show at one of the many galleries there.
We moved to the Portland Maine area in 1986 where I continued painting motorcycles, shirts and jackets and started a new career in air-conditioning and heating.
March 2004 brought together the right conditions for the first time to delve into airbrushing and pinstriping as my full time livelihood. My wife and I decided to do the road trip type of business, we started out at Laconia New Hampshire, working 10-12 hr days which was wonderful! I then went to the Harley Rendezvous in Pattersonville New York and Niagara Thunder Rally, both in July. A friend, Pat Johnson, built my website, www.southwindairbrush.com with photos of my work from 1980-2004 and has been updating it since. I went cross-country to Sturgis in early August 2004, down to Denver and Cripple Creek Colorado in late August, and spent a couple days at a bike shop in Taos before heading to Durango for the Labor Day rally. A side trip to Las Cruces, New Mexico ended my tour circuit for the time being, returning to Maine to work out of my home studio, to enjoy the fall weather, buckle down for winter, and plan for the next year of work. I shouldn’t call it work, work isn’t supposed to be fun, that’s why they call it work. Airbrushing is too fun and fulfilling to be called work.
I work with House of Kolor products for painting, clear coating, and pinstriping. All my designs are original freehand work created in collaboration with the client.
Joe Keller
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