Surfer Paints His Perfect Wave

Brook Meidinger is quiet and reserved. He's soft-spoken, maybe even a little shy.

But his paintings are quite the opposite. The images scream with vivid colors of Bali sunsets and perfect barrel waves glowing in the mid-day sun.

Meidinger, 33, a Santa Cruz native who splits his time between the tropical islands of Bali and his East-side home here, is back in town and can be spotted almost daily selling his vibrant paintings near Twin Lakes State Beach in Santa Cruz.

His art is also on display in the Bagelry shops in Santa Cruz and Soquel, a deal his dad helped him set up, he said.

This past week, he stood under the open truck of his minivan parked by the beach, protecting himself from the afternoon rain. A steady stream of cars cruised past, but several pulled over to examine the paintings closer.

Meidinger's found a way to combine two of his passions, surfing and art, in a relaxed lifestyle that seems to suit him.

The surfing began first, more than 20 years ago. It was while working at NHS printing skateboards that Meidinger first began to paint.

"I started painting with my fingers on cardboard with bright skateboard ink," he said.

And very quickly he learned that his work was popular.

"Friends at work were wanting to buy them from me," he said. "I started painting more of them, and people bought them."

It was during his first trip to Bali in 2000 that he picked up brushes and canvas to pursue his new passion. Inspired by the world-famous G-Land surf spot in East Java, he painted the mesmerizing barrel waves.

He brought the canvases back with him to Santa Cruz and found a market happy to snap them up.

A year later, he quit his job and moved to Bali. He stayed for several months, and returned home with more than 30 paintings. Each year, he progressively brought home and sold more work. When he returned to Santa Cruz, earlier this month, he brought back 300 pieces.

He'll be in and around Santa Cruz selling his work until February, when he will return to Bali, where he built a home with three rental units high on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

"I rent out three rooms," he said. "I do all my painting on the balcony there overlooking the waves."

Santa Cruz native's vivid paintings are on display at Bagelry locations and from a van parked on East Cliff.And in the evenings he surfs while the sun sets.

"That's my favorite time to surf," he said. " I get the full sunset every day. I'm pretty much the last guy surfing every night."

For Meidinger, it's clearly all about the waves.

"It's the perfect tube," he said as he points at one of his paintings. "It's all tied together. The perfect spot with all the tubing waves. That's my main goal of the day — to see the pipe as many times as possible."

And that goes for both in the water and on canvas.

Find Brook Meidinger's art at all three local Bagelry locations. He can be reached at 831-713-0655.