Tracy Bailey Holmes on the Fast Track
	By Christina Hamlett / TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER Like many women whose husbands and beaus get glued to the screen whenever the Indy 500 is on, it took Tracy Bailey Holmes awhile to understand what drove such zealous obsession. "I'd ask myself what the big deal was about a bunch of noisy cars zipping around in the same circle and occasionally crashing into each other? Who cares? I'd rather go to a museum." It was an opinion she steadfastly held to ...until the day she attended her first NASCAR race. In 0 to 60, her facial expression suddenly goes from enigmatic to energized as she replays the excitement of that 1998 memory. "When they came around that track, at about an inch apart and going about 180 miles an hour, I just felt it through my bones and wanted to capture that adrenalin rush feeling on canvas." "It had all the elements in life about teamwork and perseverance and refueling your spirit that I fell in love with it on the spot." "Until I was actually there and experienced it I even got to be in the Pitts - I just never knew how fast it was or how much can happen in a split second." "Do you realize that in 14 seconds, 4 tires are changed, gas tank filled, windows are washed and the driver gets something to drink?" "Wow! Everybody needs a team like that that can work together and help them to get where they want to go." "It's not just about one driver in a race. It's about his entire crew and a crowd of cheering fans who are all in that car with him." She attributes her signature style of NASCAR expressionism to her husband. "He owns a chain of auto collision repair centers and had a shop in an Audi Porsche dealership. I was trying to order some posters for him of old racing events and couldn't believe how expensive they were. I decided to just paint him a couple pictures myself." "As it turned out, people came in, saw them and wanted to buy them. My husband also wanted to put them in more of his shops and one thing just led to another." She was especially excited when one of her paintings found its way into the Automobile Club of Southern California's main corporate lobby. "They had invited us to a drag car race and as a thank-you, I decided to paint a picture for them. They liked it so much they made a major contribution to the Children's Center for the Arts." Holmes is a supporter and past chairperson of the Children's Center for the Arts and served on its Advisory Board of Directors, under the Pasadena Arts Council, in which she also served as a trustee on their Board of Directors for two terms. Unlike many prodigies who start wielding brushes, playing sonatas, or composing poetry before they even start school, Holmes a third generation talent shares that her entry into the world of art was a reluctant one. "On the one hand was my grandfather who was a successful, self taught painter and amusement park designer. He actually started out designing movie posters by hand." She glows with pride at the mention he shares the same Hall of Fame space with Roy and Walt Disney. "My mother, on the other hand, worked in watercolors," says Holmes. "She was very good at what she did but typified what we've all heard about the 'struggling artist' who never made her living strictly through her art. Unfortunately, that was the struggle and the view I saw from day to day when I was growing up. Since that wasn't a route I wanted to go, it was a call I resisted until I got older." On her own at an early age and working two jobs in order to survive, Holmes reveals that one of the most important things she learned was that "difficult times force you to go deep within yourself and find strength to overcome any obstacles". In the course of that struggle and that search, she continues, a person also needs to stay true to whatever it is they most believe in. Now a mother of three, she has little patience with a generation that believes in entitlement or that tries to define itself by the Hollywood standard of too thin, too beautiful and too rich. "When I was first starting out," she explains, "I had lots of people giving me advice on what I should paint and, of course, what they thought people would want to buy." She doesn't remember what the first piece was that she ever sold. "I used to just give a lot of my fine art paintings away because I was so thrilled that somebody liked it!" She laughs. "I think I'm still shocked whenever something sells, especially my limited edition prints on canvas, because it means more than one person wanted the painting!" She relates the story of meeting an artist at an exhibition when she was still trying to decide how to express herself through art. "He told me, 'You should paint only what you love. If you love dogs, paint dogs. If you love oceans, paint oceans. If you love flowers, paint flowers. If you paint what you love, it shows through your art'." "He then told me to walk around and look at everyone's paintings and come back in about half an hour and tell him whose art I thought was really outstanding." "One of the artists was a woman who painted nighttime cocktail parties and I thought she was just incredible. He told me that that was actually the artist's life and what she loved and you could really feel it." It's a message of individualism that she conveys on a regular basis to her children and to the young people who cross her path in the context of programs are a way that it can be validated." That her art work revolves around themes of high speed, I ask whether she feels that she lives her own life at an accelerated pace. "I've always been a very passionate person," she replies. "I believe that anything that requires passion and hard work to effect a transformation is something that really appeals to me." "The excitement of sporting events like NASCAR and the Tour de France became a role model for me. While there are more and more women getting involved in these races, it was unusual at the time to make a male-dominated sport the core of my artistic expression." To capture the intensity of what she wants to replicate on canvas, Holmes relies on mental snapshots as much as the ones she takes with a camera. "When I'm working, I replay in my head what it was like to smell the smells and hear the sounds. I then lay out the photographs and determine what elements about the cars, crowds and background I can use." " She describes her—style as Expressionistic. "The looser 1 paint, sometimes the more difficult that painting actually is because with each simple stroke, I have to know what I'm doing." She also believes in the importance of remaining "teachable" throughout one's life. "If you ever get to the point where you think you know it all, then you've probably lost more than you realize. Every canvas is always brand new and brings its own kind of stage fright." "I never know if it's going to turn out or not or if I can deliver what's in my head and what's in my heart. Just like a race, I think maybe that's what keeps it exciting." An outspoken admirer of Lance Armstrong, Holmes not only paints Tour de France images but is an avid bicyclist, too. On June 25, she'll be participating in the Livestrong Ride a fundraiser to help empower people afflicted with cancer. Sponsorships are still available through her website at www.art4racing.com. So if she could have lunch with any artist in history, who would it be and what would she say? "Manet not Monet would be my choice," she replies. "He was an artist who wasn't accepted in his time because he was different. Now he's so famous that he's one of the main people we study. The reason why I relate to him is because I'm different in many ways and don't fit a lot of traditional models." "I'm a woman, I paint sports, I don't fit in a normal gallery. I've been told by galleries that I need to become more well rounded but I know I have to stay true to my heart" She smiles. "If I had lunch with Manet, I'd like to tell him where his art went. I think he'd be pleased to know that." Reflections of the 2005 Tour de France will be held on June 1 through June 30 at White's Art, Framing and Restoration. 2414 Honolulu Ave, Montrose. Opening reception is June 3 from 4 to 8 p.m.
	tracy@art4racing.com • ph 626-441-8871