surfscapes, surf craze, winter stoke | John Holm

Before the TV commercials, the ad agencies, a boy lived on Ke Iki Beach in Hawaii. That's where he first discovered it and fell in love with the images. By the time the family moved to California, surfing was all the rage. John Holm and his buddies in Burlingame used to drive over the hill to Half Moon Bay, their boards in the back of his fathers pickup truck.

It was a golden time, California in the 1960's, an endless summer. But it would all soon change. After graduating from the Art Center in LA, he moved north and got a job in advertising. Within a year he got his induction notice. Welcome to Vietnam. The Navy trained him to be a pilot and he flew Grumman S-2 submarine trackers. He fought the war in Monterey and never saw a sub.

Four years later he was back on Madison Avenue, partners in a commercial production company. Then Publicis advertising in Seattle. 35 years in a crazy business filled with crazy people, but he never forgot the images, the moments. A few years ago he began painting again, developing a fluid impressionistic style that captures the beauty and essence of surfing.