Redeye Laboratory got its name because a combination of staying up late, painting through the night, surfing during the day and an eye condition give the artist who works there, Shawn Griggs, red eyes.

Shawn Griggs graduated from Humboldt State University in 1994 with a degree in graphic design. He eventually went on to open Casablanca, a restaurant in Old Town Eureka.

The restaurant business wore on him, Griggs said, so he started painting. He began with line art because he loved comic book art, but he started painting because he loved how forgiving the medium was. If he messed up, he could paint over it or work it in. He started painting in 1999 and hasn’t stopped since then.

“(Painting) was something that was user friendly. I can express myself with a looser medium,” said Griggs in his studio/gallery.

One day Griggs heard a quote: “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” He took that to heart and moved toward painting becoming his job, not just a hobby.

“The bottom line is I want to do what I love,” said Griggs.

Now he has done shows in San Francisco and has a gallery in Ferndale next to the Ferndale Repertory Theatre.

Griggs has also incorporated his love of surfing into his art, painting surfboards with elaborate paintings of an octopus or a skeleton mermaid.

“I love surfing, and I’ve always wanted to make something out of that.”

Another thing that inspires a lot of Griggs’ art is the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration. Griggs will take a scene or a person and paint them as skeletons. Hanging in the gallery is a large piece portraying skeletons working in a restaurant kitchen; it’s the kitchen at Casablanca.

“I’ve always really respected the Day of the Dead. It’s a holiday that actually respects death. People come together to celebrate those who have passed on.”

Griggs sees it as a way to paint someone recognizable without painting their physical features. He will take a person and paint them as a skeleton, wearing the clothes they wore, surrounded by the things they loved. Anyone close to the subject will recognize the subject through the things that surround them. Griggs does a lot of commission pieces in this manner.

Griggs’ Day of the Dead pieces are busy and exciting, he said, because he doesn’t want them to just hang there. “I want people to stop and have to look at it, take in all that it means.”