Paris Roubaix: Up to Half a Minute

A holdover from the days before race radios the race organization provides a motorcycle with a chalkboard who will ride between each group on the road showing them the time gaps.  This is so low tech that it is done with a stop watch and written with chalk on a traditional chalkboard.  Some races have gone to the dry erase board which will work a little better in the rain.  This is the break with Thor Hushovd (BMC), Simon Geraints (Sky) and now with Tom Boonen (OPQS) who have the power to stay away to the finish.  This is an original watercolor and ink postcard that is available for purchase through my artist website, www.greigleach.com or you could just follow the direct link at the end of this post.

http://www.greigleach.com/large-view/Spring%20Classics%202014/2345233---195767/Painting.html#.U0rfNM_D_IU

A Long Wait for the Worlds

It is still a long way off until the world rolls into Richmond, Virginia to vie for the 2015 Rainbow Jersey, but all of us cycling fans can't wait.  As you most likely know, I spent last season painting a number of the big tours of the Pro Tour calendar along with some of the shorter 7 day stage races.  This is a painting fantasizing about what it will be like as the Elite Men contest the World Road Championship snaking their way through the streets of my adopted home town.  So while we are all waiting for the start of the 2014 Pro Tour season, enjoy this little guess what the 2015 Worlds will look like (and yes, I did stick Team USA on the front as they rip down Monument Avenue).

New Art Out of the Studio

This is a new piece of art that I just completed in the studio this afternoon.  Unlike most of the art on this blog, this painting was created using Shiva Paintstiks on rag paper and is rather large at 52"x36".  The image is in celebration of the World Championships coming to my adopted home town of Richmond, VA in the United States in 2015.  It has been years since the professional, world tour peloton have swung through the streets of Richmond, but the cycling community is very strong here in the South.  This work will be available through my artist website, www.greigleach.com when I give it a title and load it up.

In 2020, during the Black Lives Matter Protests, the Lee Monument became a focus point for those who found these statues to Confederate "heroes" either a symbol of all that is racist in America, and to those who hold some of those same racist beliefs, a symbol of the "strength of the South"  During that summer, shortly after the death of George Floyd, I decided that I needed to create a painting dealing with the protests and all that they represented.  

As I was thinking about that, it became clear it would be symbolic to create that new work over this painting.  The resulting piece, "I Can't Breathe" has now been included in the visual history of the Black Lives Matter organization.  The new piece is a much better work of art, made all the more so by having this painting underneath (and hopefully what the monuments celebrate buried underneath as well). 

You can see this artwork (and purchase a print of the original) at my website, www.greigleach.com and all of my other paintings as well.