BigToe, AKA Tom Laura was born in LA and makes his home in Southern California. His formative years were spent surfing from Baja south to Ventura in the north and copying images from Mad Magazine and Ed Roth. After taking 10 years to get a 4 year fine arts degree at Cal State Long Beach, Tom went into the apparel business, the surf industry to be specific and has Art Directed lines such as Op and Maui and Sons. After opening his own design firm in 1998, he has also produced artwork for brands such as Quiksilver, O'Neill, Rusty, Redsand, Hobie, Burton and Split. During this time, surfing and surf travel has been Tom’s passion, with local status at the “Trestles” punctuated by occasional surf trips to most of the Hawaiian Islands, Samoa and Various parts of Baja and mainland Mexico. After a 15 year "hiatus", he started painting agai n: acrylics is his medium of choice, and driftwood or other found materials are his preferred "canvas".