Getting There

INTERVIEW BY JIM DOYLE PHOTOS COURTESY MIKE GORRONO

Getting There” is the name of my newly acquired art piece created by pencil artist, Mike Gorrono. Gorrono is an AHRMA member and a regular AHRMA MAG advertiser. He offers his artistic service creating high-quality pencil art from a provided subject photograph.

I kept viewing the pencil image of Dick Mann he used in his AHRMA advertisement and decided something like that image would be a classy way for me to display how important my avocation was to visitors and family.

I have a favorite photo I believe best represents my passion and experience with motorsports that was taken by professional photographer, Tim Turner of Tulsa, OK. Tim captured me while I was racing my 1977 BMW R100S at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit; while I negotiated turn 9, Tim clicked at just the right time. If you have ever visited my Facebook profile, you will see the original as my cover photo.

I recently sat down with Mike to have a telephone interview to discuss his art, his background, and the piece he had just completed for me.

HOW AND WHEN DID YOU GET YOUR START DOING ART?

My mom had a good friend that used to come stay with us in the early 1960’s. She was a painter; she was stricken with polio and had lost the use of her right arm and hand. She had to retrain herself to paint left-handed. She was a very good oil painter and as a toddler I used to watch her. I’m sure she gave me a scrap of paper and a pencil. I would draw along with Aunt Geneva. That was the only art influence I had. Neither my mother nor my father were artistic in any way. When I got into school, I was always good at art and I was terrible at math. In my final couple years in high school, the teacher just said “Have at it. Do as you wish.” I would keep myself entertained for the class period. I took more art classes than “solid” studies.

WHEN WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT YOU DID A PENCIL DRAWING?

Early on, 40 years ago, and still today, it began with doing people’s portraits of their parents or their grandparents or their kids. To be honest with you, in the peninsula area south of San Francisco, there must be hundreds of small Mexican families that hopefully still have an original Gorrono somewhere in their house.

I did them on the very cheap and I did a lot of them. I started with portraiture, but it was 22 years ago when I first bought a Harley-Davidson Panhead. I needed to come up with money to pay for the build of that Harley, so I started taking on more serious family commissions or portraits as extra spending money. Then I joined the Antique Motorcycle Club of America, and I did a lot of artworks of antique Harleys, Indians, and other various motorcycles.

TELL US ABOUT THE MEDIUM YOU USE.

I use Tombow pencils. It’s the only brand I like now. I’ve tried others; they’ll do but not like Tombow. I used everything from the H’s which stands for hard. A lot of my artwork starts out with 2H, 3H 4H and those are very hard lead, so they don’t leave a big impression on the paper and then I graduate to the B and the 3B, 4B, 5B and 6B, which are very soft lead. Those give me the dark, dark black shadow or black lines. I use Strathmore Bristol 100% rag paper. Your artwork for instance will never react to pH negative nor will it ever yellow or tarnish. It will always remain crispy white. I use a cold press paper because it has more tooth, more texture to it. It grabs the lead and it makes it behave differently than a hot press paper, which has a smooth finish.

WAS IT TRIAL AND ERROR THAT GOT YOU TO THAT PAPER FOR YOUR FAVORED SUBSTRATE?

Yes. 30-40 years ago. I can’t think of the name of the brand, but it’s evident if you look at my website and scroll through my artwork, you’ll come down to Willie Nelson and George Jones. And you’ll see that they were drawn on that paper that was not acid free and it has tarnished and yellowed over the years.

run went from the east coast to the west coast. That was 10 years ago. That was a big piece. I would say my biggest commission in the last few years was either Dick Mann or Brad Lackey and they both autographed their prints. So that was really a feather in my cap. Dick Mann and Brad Lackey!

ROUGHLY HOW MANY PIECES DO YOU THINK YOU’VE DONE?

WHAT

Was The

FIRST PIECE YOU DID THAT GOT YOU STARTED DOING MOTORCYCLE ART?

That probably goes back to the Antique Motorcycle Club of America (AMCA). Buzz Kanter was the president. I did a portrait of him on his Harley as he finished the Cannonball run here in California from a start in the east. This Cannonball

Literally hundreds. I counted on my website; there are 80 pieces on my site from the last 20 years and those are ones that I thought had credence and should go on the website. Yours of course will, or already has. There are so many portraits out there of moms and dads and weddings and kids and babies and dogs and puppies and horses, etc. And some of them are lost to the ages. It would really be fun if someday I could rent a hall and invite anyone who has a Gorrono original to bring it and let me see it again. Even today, I still see some of my work pop up in my Facebook feed and I’ve completely forgotten about them. It’s truly a charm to get to see them twice again.

THE PIECE THAT YOU HAVE JUST FINISHED FOR ME. WHAT DID YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT IT?

I knew you were going to ask me that. What was really important was to capture your eyes. I don’t know that I sent it along with your artwork, but I had notes to the effect where your irises fall in relationship to your helmet, and I want to say your right iris falls directly below the A in Arai. Yes, I had made notes of it, and I thought, darn it, I’m going to send that to Jim because that would be cool to have, too. But that was important to capture, shall we say, your killer look. You’re looking up through the corner into your next position, so that was important. Then of course, trying to get all the vent holes in your leather suit was a challenge. The overall picture was just delicious to work with because it was a professional photographer. I always say the better the photo, the better the art. So, when I get a great photograph, I just can’t wait to get started on it.

MIKE, SEVERAL CLOSE FRIENDS WHO HAVE SEEN UPDATES TO THE DRAWING PROGRESS HAVE COMMENTED TO ME THAT YOU TRULY CAPTURED THE INTENSITY OF THE RACER WITH THOSE EYES. There’s another one and it escapes me who it is. But I think it was Mr. Lackey. Yes, it was Brad Lackey. I did three or four Lackey’s and they’re on my website. You can see that intensity in his face in one of the shots.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO TALK ABOUT?

Yes. I really love AHRMA! I started four years ago as an intermediate in motorcross and was terrified. Luckily, I got moved down to novice and I won enough novice races in the subsequent two seasons that they moved me back up last season to intermediate and now I’m racing intermediate. I can tell you I’ve told everyone that I meet that it’s so exciting. When someone like me who loves motorcycles, and who at 60 years of age says I ought to get a dirt bike, it’s kind of amazing.

I had a Honda 90 as a kid. I thought, “I should get a dirt bike.” Then after a few mistakes and a few crashes and a few bikes, when you find the right bike that you really love, it is the most exciting thing in my life. I really love AHRMA and all the races that they put on and all the wonderful people that you meet at an AHRMA race. It’s just fantastic.

About Mike

Mike Gorrono is in the Walnut Creek area about 20 minutes from Oakland CA. For more information about Mike and his professional service you can visit him at www.gorronoart.com. You will find great examples of his work to view as well as his full contact information.