12 Seconds
Oil on Canvas
24x30
3rd Place
12 SECONDS IS THE AVERAGE PIT stop at a NASCAR race. This includes changing all four tires, refueling, maintenance, etc., and it is absolute perfection to watch. The car pulls up, you breathe in, breathe out...breathe in, breathe out...and the car is on its way. Two breaths...that's all.
In partnership with NASCAR, Crossroads Art Center in Richmond, VA sponsored a national art show about speed. While most of the artists focused on the speed of the cars (and they are certainly worth it) and others focused on some of the drivers, I watched multiple races and realized that the driver, no matter how good he or she is, is at the mercy of an expert pit crew. My aim in this painting was to focus on the speed of the crew, the blur, the motion, and the abstractness of their movements, the car in high detail. The car is usually zooming...rushing...in full on blur...but in this moment, it's the one thing on the track that is motionless as a small crew of focused individuals, in two breaths...12 seconds, keep the race going.
This painting will be on display, and for sale, at the Richmond International Raceway during Race Week, August 15-16. I will also be live painting on the 15th.