THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 16, 1995 TAG: 9507140201
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: CLOSEUP
SOURCE: JANELLE LA BOUVE
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
The side panels of a 1995 Dodge pickup make the setting for two dark wolves. The fierce animals are chasing a pale gray long-horned ram. The ram appears to have burst through the panel on the passenger's side of the vehicle. The defiant squint of his yellow eyes follows the gaze of every observer.
As the self-taught artist Tex McDorman began work on the driver's side of the truck, the tools of his trade were around him.
In the left hand, he held two child-sized paper cups containing paint. Brushes and additional cups of paint were nearby.
He wore a black baseball cap. A row of twisters held his light brown pony tail in place. The scabbard at his side gripped a small knife. A tattooed map of Texas with prickly cacti peeped out beneath the sleeve of his T-shirt.
The black shirt was covered with his own orange design advertising his Chesapeake business - Tex's Sign Shop.
``The eyes will follow you wherever you go,'' beamed McDorman, confidently applying the first gold and black brush strokes to the head of the wolf, unaware of the sweat streaming down his tanned face. To complete the painting would probably require at least 15,000 individual brush strokes, he said.
The 31-year-old McDorman has been drawing since he was 12. Usually these days he doesn't even bother sketching before applying paint; he just starts right in.
``Sometimes when I'm painting, I don't like what I'm doing, or it doesn't go fast enough,'' he said. ``But I just tell myself what I tell everybody else - you have to stick with a job until it's done. Then when I finish, it's really neat.''
His customers come from as far as New Jersey with requests for McDorman to design a logo, custom paint a helmet, paint pin stripes, murals, banners, signs, symbols and auto graphics. He also does truck lettering and hand-painted auto graphics, as well as ``some squiggly free-hand stuff.''
He recently painted purple flames on a bold yellow motorcycle for Disney Studios. Soon he will paint a design on a cycle for television personality Sinbad.
McDorman regularly letters go-carts as well as other vehicles for the World of Wheels Auto show.
What he likes most about his work is the diversity.
``I wouldn't trade it for anything,'' he said. ``I'd hate to think I had to do the same thing every day.''
Full name: T. Tex McDorman
Grew up: Brownwood, Texas
Fond childhood memories: ``Spending time with my dad's mother in the summer, and watching my other grandmother (Ellie Rashell) paint. During the 1950s and 1960s, she was famous as a portrait and landscape artist.''
Spouse: Melissa
Children: Blythe and Critter
Occupation: ``I'm a pin striper and sign artist and owner of Tex's Sign Shop.
Hobbies: ``Collecting 1950s memorabilia (such as a 1949 Tydol gas pump), playing golf, riding Harley motorcycles and hot rods. Spending time with my children and doing whatever they're into.''
Favorite song: ``Sugar Sugar'' by the Archies
Favorite movie: ``Grease''
Can't resist: My wife
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? ``I would be more understanding and not get aggravated so easily.''
Favorite TV program: ``Drag Racing'' and ``Winston Cup Racing''
Favorite Chesapeake restaurant: Ryan's ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
by CNB