Painting Live on Carb Day

This was by far one of my most surreal days of painting I’ve ever had. Four years ago I tried painting my first Indy car up close. I stood outside of one of the race teams garage plein air painting for hours and figured if I stood out there long enough, I could eventually talk my way inside. Well that happened, but unfortunately they did not let me paint. For 4 more years I let it be known that I was interested in painting in the garages and that day finally came. The night before Carb Day I went to bed not knowing I would be painting there the next day. I woke up to a text from Kathleen Kimball, Charlie Kimball’s wife, asking if I could come to the garages and paint them a painting. I immediately responded that I could. About an hour later she was picking me up and then wove me through the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to their RV. Charlie was there and we all got on their golf cart and made our way to Gasoline Alley. I got to the garage and had not even began to process what was happening. I met several people, Charlie found me a spot, and I started to set up. When I finally picked up my paint brush for the first time I was shaking from nerves. I paint live all the time, nothing really scares me anymore, but having thought about this moment for years, it was wild to finally live it. I had to take in a few deep breathes, slow my heart rate and begin to do the work I have trained so long to do. I knew right away the toughest part of this painting would be the drawing. I had to draw quick but accurate as I only had about an hour and a half before the rolled the car out for practice. To make it even more challenging the car was in various states of put together the whole time. I stayed focused and methodically moved through both paintings while enjoying the famous hot dogs in the Foyt garage. I finished the day with a golf cart ride through a sea of race cars on Gasoline Alley. It was such a surreal day and I am so thankful to Charlie & Kathleen all of Foyt Racing for their hospitality and for the opportunity.