Colleen Gnos is drawn to the ocean, like a sailor lulled by siren song—but without the tragic ending. Her nautical connection dates back to her ancestors, who were sea captains living on the Azores Islands, and more recently, to her grandfather, a tugboat driver and abalone diver in Avila Beach.
Though her family is originally from the Central Coast, Gnos grew up in Dixon, Calif. She attended UC Santa Cruz and describes herself as a “late bloomer” to the world of surfing.
“I remember boogie boarding most of the time in the water without a wetsuit. I obsessed over the ocean,” Gnos said.
She started surfing at 21 and soon learned there is an incredible learning curve with the activity.
“It took two years before I felt like I could call myself a surfer,” Gnos shared.
Surfing is one of the oldest sports on the planet; it involves intensity, risk, and the combined power of the ocean. People (perhaps better regarded as daredevils) continue to push themselves to insane limits to ride bigger waves. Surfing is also one of the few sports to create its own culture and lifestyle, causing some to say it’s more of a way of life than a sport. Gnos said she falls under the category of “soul surfer.”
“People view surfing from different points of view and some people are very competitive,” she said. “I do it for the sheer joy of what it brings me.”
She explained that each surfer has his or her own unique style; she thinks of it as a creative form of expression. The surfer said there are set rules to stick to out in the water.
“Use gravity as your speed generator, look for speed pockets and flat areas,” Gnos said. “Don’t look down at your feet.”
She also said surfers also have to pay attention to hydraulics and the energy at the top of the wave, and that you have to be in the moment. You can’t be thinking about bills or stressing about whatever is going on in life.
“It occupies my mind to the point it’s like meditation,” Gnos said. “It’s very appealing to me.”
This surfer’s vehicle of choice is a long board or fish board, which she described as shorter and wider, with a flat bottom designed for speed. Although it can be frustrating and embarrassing to learn how to surf, Gnos said the payoff is well worth it.
“There is no greater feeling than taking off on a board and walking to the nose and back,” she said. “When done well, it looks good. It feels amazing to get to the tip and pick up speed—like you’re gliding on water.”
The surfing lifestyle quickly took over Gnos’ creative side. The native Californian decided at age 4 she was going to be an artist.
“As I grew up, I wanted to be a dolphin trainer or marine biologist, but I always returned to art,” she said.
The artist had very rich training: She studied as much as she could in college before venturing off for the art education of a lifetime at Italy’s Academia di Belle Arti, which boasts none other than Michelangelo as a member.
She typically works from her small studio in Avila Beach. On the day of her interview with the Sun, Gnos is listening to calm music, intently painting the skin of a mermaid on her latest surfboard piece. The space is filled with completed artwork, a plethora of supplies, and a stand-up bass that Gnos plays. The smell of the sea floats in through the open door, bringing inspiration as she works.
Gnos’ art can be seen all over the Central Coast—at Kelsey Winery in Avila, Red Dirt Coffee House in Arroyo Grande, and in the form of a painted mural at the Lompoc Aquarium. She is widely known for capturing the classic California themes of beach life, mermaids, and sirens.
“Mermaids came about because in life when you have bills and young children, sometimes you just want an escape,” Gnos said. “Mermaids represented freedom and a powerful body to get away from it all.”
It can be said that Gnos has helped define the “surf art” genre, a form of artistic expression that captures the essence of beach communities. Since the 1990s, the surf art business has taken off with numerous artists working in a variety of mediums.
Gnos prefers to work with acrylic and oil paints, which she taught herself to use when she was a teenager. She paints murals and on canvas, and is also known for her handmade, painted surfboards. Her most prominent surfboard piece is “The Kiss.”
Gnos’ process begins in the ocean, where she thinks about how to mix colors, a skill that takes years to develop. She said ideas usually come to her when she is driving alone, washing dishes, or surfing.
“It would be before I was about to get pounded by a wave,” Gnos said. “The light comes through the wave in a certain way—the brown and green of sand in the wave.”
Gnos confessed that her favorite thing to paint is skin because of the challenge it brings.
“It picks up all the colors around it and from the ocean,” she said.
The surf artist said this year she will be scaling things back a bit to make time for completing commissions that were left behind last year.
Gnos survived perhaps one of the most foreboding diseases of humankind: cancer. The surfer and mother of two boys said it started in her left femur, which she mistook for merely knee trouble. Then she was diagnosed with primary bone lymphoma.
“I had to do super-aggressive chemotherapy to treat it. I could handle the treatments, but it really was miserable,” Gnos said. “I was down for a week with each cycle, but was able to do graphic design work in between.”
Being able to work with her art provided therapy for Gnos, but she said not having surfing as an outlet for six months made things very hard.
“Everybody with [a] cancer diagnosis should do some kind of art—it’s more about doing it just to get involved with the process,” Gnos said.
On her maiden voyage back into the ocean, Gnos had only been walking for two months. All of her friends showed up to the beach and were very supportive. Gnos said she was only supposed to catch waves on her belly and had to wear a special brace on her leg.
“I caught the fourth one and, next thing I know, I was standing with my emaciated leg,” she said with a laugh. “I caught the wave all the way to the beach.”
She surfs once a week these days, being busy with her work and raising a family. She said the experience shifted her priorities and, in some way, she considers it a gift. Gnos now lives with a more positive attitude and listens to her body.
“I want to show other people that [a] cancer diagnosis does not mean death or the end of your life,” Gnos said. “There is life; you can return to what you did before and be even better.”
Staff Writer Kristina Sewell wants to learn how to surf! Contact her at ksewell@santamariasun.com
This article appears in Mar 13-20, 2014.