Farécla Bonnet Painting Competition (2024) - Meet the Finalists: Aaron

Ahead of the 2024 Grand Finals, Farécla conducted a series of interviews with this year's finalists. Today the spotlight is on Aaron Marshall (19) from Motofix Swindon. Aaron is currently training as a Paint Sprayer and Prepper and is currently in his 2nd year.

When asked how Aaron got into Refinishing, Aaron advised he was originally looking at going into Engineering:

"I originally did a year in engineering but I learnt it wasn't really for me; trigonometry isn't really my thing... so I decided to have a look at the Government website and saw Paint Sprayer and decided to do some further research and it looked interesting so I gave it a shot."

Whilst working at Motofix, Aaron learnt about the competition through Darren Keylock (Regional Branch Support Manager at Motofix) and decided it would be fun to take part and try something outside of the day-to-day. Aaron got thinking about his design with some guidance and advice from on-site mentors and painters Vlad and Joe.

When Aaron's bonnet was reviewed by the internal judging panel, they immediately noticed the striking marbling effect that Aaron achieved and were curious about learning more about Aaron's design process:

"I had some extra time at [Thatcham] college and it was like "do you want to learn how to do marble effects" and I was like "yeah sure". I thought it turned out pretty well so I thought I would give it a go for this contest"

It didn't come without its challenges though:

"It did initially leave a bit of a weird texture which took a lot of blocking and sanding so I probably ended up using quite a bit of lacquer...hopefully that won't come out of the prize winnings"

Aaron's also utilised a number of hand cut stencils:

"I wasn’t able to find a machine or a business where I could get one made, so I had to improvise and find another way to get my design on the bonnet"

Aaron's hand cut stencils ended up including the Farécla and Motofix logos, lightning bolts and in the centre of the bonnet a Mahkor - the national animal of Pakistan - which Aaron wanted to include as a personal touch.

"What I liked about the contest is it gave me a lot of opportunities to do things outside the norm - I was in the spray booth more often, I did some polishing and I got to do some arts and crafts with making my own stencils with a craft knife"

Lastly, Farécla asked Aaron what he hoped to do with the prize money:

"Tickets for Oasis or maybe a car - I should probably be saying savings but those two are top of my list!" 

Farécla would once again like to thank Aaron for his time and wish him the best of luck in the upcoming Grand Final!

This interview is part of a series of interviews with our Grand Finalists - Jackson Bailey, Rylee Gale, Kayleigh Meadows, Aaron Marshall and Lauryn Palmer - being published daily between Monday 30th September to Friday 4th October 2024 on our website.Be sure to check out our blog for interviews with fellow finalists.

Join Farécla on Friday 11th October at 12 Noon (BST) for a special livestream presentation as our judges announce the winner of the 2024 contest. Check out the links below for further details.

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