Monday, 23 February 2026

The Rainy 1956 Mille Miglia and Eureka Moments

Italian driver Eugenio Castellotti (1930-1957) races the Scuderia Ferrari 290 MM Scaglietti chassis #0616 to a win of the very rainy 1956 Mille Miglia in Italy, after over eleven and a half hours of driving.

Scuderia Ferrari took the 5 first spots of the race, followed by the Mercedes team with the next 3 ...

Even in the miserable weather, the loyal fans were still there to see their heroes race ...

To create this composition, I referenced a few images of the car and images of the attending spectators till I could combine them to tell the story.

To achieve the sense of heavy rain in this, I did the whole artwork in intense watercolour pencil on watercolour paper, approximately 30 hours of work.

Once finished, I went to the sink and ran it under a tap to wash the intensity of the colour away. As soon as it dried thoroughly, I then redid the colour on only the car, and drew white lines through the background spectators to knock them back even further on the art.

It is a fact that I could have destroyed the art by running it under the tap, but I succeeded.

The only question I asked myself here is “Will anyone die if I don’t succeed?”

The answer is quite obvious but it’s incredible how many people would not ever try it. They put up unseen barriers onto themselves instead of exploring the possibilities.

Interestingly, I seem to always succeed and I sincerely believe that this approach to the task unburdens me from my own negative “what if’s”…

My “what if’s” switch from  “what if it doesn’t work?” to “what if it works?”.

Exploration leads to an awareness of the possibilities that lay right before you.

Unburdening oneself encourages this exploration, which in turn quite often leads to eureka moments.

Who doesn’t like eureka moments?


Art description - Pen & Ink, watercolour pencils and acrylic pens on 18"x 12" watercolour paper – Original art available as are prints.


#millemiglia #ferrari290mm #eugeniocastellotti #scuderiaferrari #carart #watercolourpencils
#eurekamoments

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