Latest / That Car Show / Motor Oils. With Automotive Artist Lyn Hiner.

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Motor Oils. With Automotive Artist Lyn Hiner. · That Car Show

0:00
Yeah. What do you think?
0:00
That I'm like, what is this? What?
0:03
This is the strangest injury I've ever heard of.
0:06
Pardon my friend, So, so many other people.
0:10
That's why we were on things like Good Morning America,
0:13
really BBC, It was national news and it was very weird.
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Today on that car show, we're joined by our friend, the
0:23
automotive artist Lynn Heiner. Lynn's unlikely journey to
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automotive art prominence begin with a very bizarre accident on
0:31
a Socal beach and continues today as she's an integral part
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of so many of the enthusiasts events that we know and love
0:37
like Amelia Island, the Pebble Beach, Concorde Retro Mobile.
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Her unique style has landed her work in the collections of some
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of the most respected car collectors in the world too.
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This is a fun conversation, takes a few unexpected turns,
0:50
but you're really going to like both Lynn and her amazing art.
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It's Lynn Heiner and it's that car show.
0:58
Welcome back to that car show. I'm Lindsay and I'm here with
1:02
Ryan. And today we are joined by
1:05
automotive fine artist and also my friend and a shining example
1:10
of why car people are some of the best people.
1:12
Lynn Heiner Hi Lynn's expressive paintings capture not just what
1:19
beautiful cars look like, but how they make us feel, which is
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something that we talk about a lot on the show.
1:25
Lynn's approach is best described in her own words.
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The automobile is already a beautiful work of art, and my
1:30
intent is to capture how it makes you feel.
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Lynn has a truly distinctive style built around her signature
1:36
palette knife work and bold use of color, which create an
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incredible sense of energy and movement on the canvas.
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Her abstracted automotive paintings reinterpret a
1:44
vehicle's familiar elements to reveal a beautiful new
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perspective, capturing the essence of the amazing machines
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that we love while emoting A dynamic energy that makes our
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hearts sing. Lynn's palette knife technique
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has made her work recognizable around the world, where she has
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exhibited at events and venues ranging from the SEMA Show and
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The Amelia to the Peterson Automotive Museum, International
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Private Collections, and of course, one of the automotive
2:09
world's grandest stages, Pebble Beach.
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Her love of cars goes all the way back to childhood when she
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learned to drive a manual transmission in her dad's
2:17
Porsche 9/11. We're really excited to talk to
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Lynn about cars, art, emotion, and the stories that connect all
2:24
three. Welcome, Lynn.
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Hi you guys. Thanks for having me.
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Thank you for joining us. It's so good to see you.
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I'm so glad you and I actually got to catch up in person at
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Pebble this year, which was. That was awesome.
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Just the highlight of my and my daughter's week.
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Truly, you are just such a bright light in the car
2:40
community, so I'm so excited to share you with our audience.
2:45
So before we get into the all things art, can you share a
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little bit about your background and how like your path to
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becoming the amazing artist that you are today?
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Well, it's, it's pretty simple. You combine a love of art and
3:02
you combine a love of cars. That start both started very,
3:05
very young. And I guess that was a recipe
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started, yeah, 150 years ago. So because you didn't know,
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that's how old I AM. Well, you wear it well, Lynn,
3:20
let me tell. You one would never know.
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And what is your doctor's name? Thank you.
3:28
Yeah. So that was that was kind of how
3:30
it started. I was a kid whose dad loved
3:34
cars. He used to just amateurly race
3:37
his Porsche around. He he didn't have sons.
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So I don't think that that was it.
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I don't think that meant anything.
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But I shared his joy of cars. And so I got to enjoy that with
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him and, and quite frankly, I think because I already had a
3:57
love of art, the form of a Porsche in particular, it was
4:01
always so beautiful to me. So it's sort of makes sense that
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even before I could understand and articulate that I already
4:08
had a love of the form. So.
4:11
That makes sense. And that's interesting that you
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say that about your dad didn't have sons.
4:14
My mom has always said that about her dad, too.
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He had two daughters and she remembers being at the debut of
4:21
the Mustang in 1964. 1/2 And it's funny, 'cause she says,
4:26
yeah, he didn't have sons. So he, you know, dragged us
4:29
along. But luckily they were both car
4:30
girls too. Yeah, when we drag, when we drag
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our daughters to events, car events in particular, usually
4:37
they're like, oh, what cute dogs.
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Well, that's why we always say there's something for everyone,
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right? So that's, you know, we, we try,
4:48
we've tried I. Think what is it?
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You can lead them to the car show, but you can't Make Love.
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That's all right. That's all right.
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Yeah. And you grew up in Southern
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California, Lynn. Yeah.
5:00
I did for the 1st 10 years or so.
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You know, we are unfortunately riddled with a lot of wildfires
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and one in Santa Barbara in the very late 70s, right?
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Took our home. Yeah.
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And so we stayed one more year and then my my mom and my
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stepdad bought a house up in Lake Tahoe, actually.
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And so I lived there for a number of years before I moved
5:34
up to the Portland area with my dad.
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That's where I graduated high school and from there went to
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art school in New York City and then came back to Southern
5:43
California and have been here ever since.
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Sounds like a pretty exciting path.
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You got to experience a lot of different environments over the
5:50
years. Yeah, yeah.
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So when you left art school, what did you, because you didn't
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start doing what you're doing now right away.
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So what did you do after art school?
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Like what was kind of your path from there to where you are now?
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Well, honestly, I when I went to art school, I thought I would be
6:10
an interior designer, but. And so I actually when I left
6:14
school, I started working for an architectural and design firm.
6:18
And by the way, I didn't graduate.
6:19
So let's be super fair here to all those people who've gotten
6:23
their degree, rock on. But we let the record show.
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Amended us to attend. Attended Attended Some of us.
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Barely got that degree, so don't you know you're a good company?
6:37
But that was the thing, you know what?
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There were a lot of blessings in that.
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Had I been at school, there would have been a couple of
6:44
things. I would have fought for the
6:46
interior design. But instead, I work for an
6:48
architectural and design firm and found out I really didn't
6:51
want to do it. And then also, honestly, my mom
6:57
ended up having terminal cancer within a year of my leaving
7:01
school. So the fact that I was on the
7:03
West Coast was a huge blessing. Huge blessing.
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And you just because you can't get that time back.
7:09
No. And that's one of those things
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that you look at it and you got everything unfolded the way it
7:14
was supposed to, so. Exactly, Yeah.
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So you I mean, so you were you were painting what, like what
7:21
was were you? Would you start?
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You mean when I was in school? Yeah.
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Yeah, yeah. Before the cars, are we always
7:28
doing the cars? What?
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What? No, no, I didn't do the cars.
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I never did cars. I never even drew the car start.
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That the man was. About 100 years later again, no,
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I I came I came out of art school a pastel artist.
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I actually was a hyper realistic pasteler yes.
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So that was where the skills if you were to see some of my work
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then and and and painting. I just never really gelled with
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it. I had the tools really.
8:03
I don't have it handy, but I have, I have the knife I had
8:07
from, from Pratt, but it was a, a, a knife that I just used to
8:13
mix when I had classes that required paint.
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So that was it. Yeah, it was, it was.
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I mean, that's more technical than anything.
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But when you're doing art, you're, you have specialties
8:27
usually. And, and certainly in school you
8:29
find your proclivity and, and for me, as much as I loved it, I
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just love the tactile feel of working with pastel soft
8:39
pastels. So that's what I did.
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And, and then I came back to the West Coast and started trying to
8:47
figure out how I was going to make some money and did a couple
8:52
of odd jobs, like I said, one of them working for an
8:55
architectural and design firm. And within a couple of years I
8:59
was actually working at Performance Racing Industry in
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Laguna Beach and within a very short window, like 3 months, I
9:09
became their trade show manager. And that was how I started.
9:13
Really understanding the automotive and racing industry
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and really enjoyed myself immensely at that company.
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Learned a lot about business. It was a small company and only
9:24
eight people when I started and probably 30 when I left.
9:28
Oh, wow. So you got to experience a lot
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of different aspects of the business, I would imagine. 100%
9:35
I, I was, I did all of the budgets I had to, I had to work
9:39
with the dignitaries in every city we were in.
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I had to do a lot of travel, a lot of spitballing.
9:46
You have to learn to make decisions very quickly.
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So there was stuff I would never have understood that I needed to
9:52
know now that I learned done. So that's total.
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That is the total gift. I feel like I'm seeing that more
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in the last couple years where you're like, I did not
10:01
anticipate applying this skill here, but I'm so glad that I
10:05
have it because the need exactly.
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I can't tell you how many like, Oh my word, so many parents come
10:13
in to an exhibit or to the display or even it here at the
10:17
studio and they're like, how do I get my daughter or my son to
10:21
make a living at this? And I go let them work in the
10:24
world at large first. Just go and let them do life.
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I mean if that if this is their the place they are meant to be,
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I promise you they will come back to it and they will be
10:36
better for it. So Lynn, I I think being a
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working artist must be one of the toughest possible ways to
10:43
make a living, but you found this niche and and done very
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well for yourself. So what's the secret?
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And for the record, I do have a BFA, just just barely.
10:58
Nice. So I want to know, I'm asking
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you from the heart, what's the secret?
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Because and and you've got your notepad and you're going to take
11:06
notes that's. Right.
11:08
He's like. Pan out already.
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When I felt called to this professionally, first of all,
11:14
I'd had a pretty You guys, do you know about the accident I
11:17
had in 2012? So mention of it and I'm happy
11:22
to hear as much as you're comfortable sharing.
11:25
Well, I, I'm not going to bore you with a ton of the details,
11:28
but in 2012, I was, I was on a little excursion down at the
11:33
beach with my kids who were young at the time.
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And, you know, we were picking up a little, this little, that.
11:40
And one thing I happened to catch that I thought was an odd
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and amazing thing to find was a piece of amber at the beach.
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And I came home with my 10 little rocks in my cargo shorts.
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And as I was running up the stairs, apparently that's when
11:56
something happened. But honestly, the that little
12:02
piece of amber happened to be a little piece of white phosphorus
12:04
and that little piece of white phosphorus went and ignited in
12:08
my shorts and it became phosphoric acid.
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It made all the other little rocks, little hot rocks and gave
12:18
me third and 2nd and 3rd degree burns that landed me in the
12:22
hospital for 10 days with two major surgeries and then burned
12:27
a hole, you know, a couple of little holes in our floor and
12:32
and a year of surgeries. So I have so many questions.
12:35
What? What was this doing on the
12:37
beach? This.
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I know, I know, this could really derail it, so I'm going
12:42
to try. This is a wild story.
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Yeah, I know. I mean, let me make light of it.
12:45
I'm honestly curious. Like what?
12:47
No. So it was, it was national news.
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It was the, it was the oddest thing.
12:52
We were sitting there. I think it was it was after the
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first surgery and before the second surgery.
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I go, I was laying in bed with my husband next to me and I go,
13:00
we were watching the news because what I, I, I feel like
13:04
this should be something that people would actually be
13:07
interested in, but I don't really want to be the one
13:09
telling him, but you. Know what the fuck?
13:10
I'm like what is this? What?
13:13
This is the strangest injury I've ever heard of.
13:17
Well, and so, so many other people, that's why we were on
13:21
things like Good Morning America, really, BBC, it was
13:26
national news and it was very weird.
13:29
And, and even a couple years later, well, maybe it was the
13:34
end of that year, I can't remember, but weird wonders of
13:37
the world. I was in the top 12 I think and.
13:41
You're like, well. It's better be like.
13:46
You could be #1. And anyone who came to visit me
13:49
in the hospital had to have a fun nickname.
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And the the winner was Phosphorilla, the hottest pants
13:57
in the West. OK, wait, so.
14:01
OK, you're on the one. You're on the beach, you're
14:05
collecting shells, stones, bottle glass, whatever you do,
14:08
and you pick something up. You think it's amber.
14:10
You just think it's a beautiful rock.
14:11
So what is this is something that's used in industry.
14:14
Like what? How?
14:15
Does. No, no, no, no.
14:16
You know, I live right north of Pendleton, right?
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So the the the. Everyone.
14:22
So it's a. Military military base will say
14:26
that it was yeah, it was it was definitely military of origins
14:31
because you know, they first of all, they had had a similar
14:34
accident in Germany like within the month of when this happened
14:38
to me personally by another woman where they had World War 2
14:43
old land mines that were seeping in in forests and lakes and
14:48
stuff. So it's not actually it's not
14:51
100% uncommon, but in the 28 year vet who's my paramedic in
14:57
in the ambulance, his whole thing was I've never ever seen
15:01
anything like it. And of course, it took a month
15:03
of of investigating before they even decided what it was and and
15:09
that there was no universal threat to anyone.
15:12
It was just an anomaly. But wow, I mean, I don't know,
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you know, for me personally, I, I, I, I have faith and, and I
15:22
kind of, I feel like it was the catalyst to something that I
15:26
didn't know was coming. And that catalyst came in 2014
15:29
when my husband and I were having a conversation.
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And the conversation kind of became that, Hey, I know you're
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teaching and doing stuff like that in my home studio.
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What do you, you know, what do you think?
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And I'm like, I don't know, what do you think?
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What are you talking about? He goes, well, you know, do you
15:49
want to maybe do something different?
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And I go no. What are you getting at?
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And he goes, well, you know, I mean, it was a conversation and,
16:00
and so I spent basically a whole week just kind of like really
16:03
processing what that meant and praying about it.
16:06
And at the end of that, that week, I felt like, holy cow, I
16:10
think I'm actually being called paint, which doesn't make sense
16:14
because I don't paint. And so when I told my husband
16:17
that at the end of the week and he goes, that just doesn't make
16:21
sense. He's.
16:23
Like that's not at all where I was going.
16:25
No. I.
16:25
Was thinking, you know, you could go back to consulting in,
16:29
in trade shows or whatever. And I go, yeah, no, that's not
16:33
actually where I think I'm supposed to go with this.
16:35
And, and so, so that's where it becomes a little weird for some
16:39
people, but honestly, I'm telling you what here, where are
16:45
we here? Here we are.
16:48
And it was no small feat because AI was not painting.
16:52
I was, I was privately teaching a little bit.
16:56
I had a like I'm left-handed. So what my hand was one of the
17:00
things that got burned. That was actually where most of
17:02
my, I had a lot of damage on my leg, but my hand was the one
17:07
that actually caused all the problems.
17:09
But I'm left-handed. So it was never a big issue for
17:12
me. And I didn't think, but when
17:15
you're a pasteler, you use both hands prolifically.
17:18
So I did notice that I wasn't going to be able to do that real
17:22
well. And and it was kind of an
17:25
interesting thing because when I was feeling like that call, I
17:29
had to spend a whole year just relearning the whole idea of
17:34
blending colors with paint. And do I like oils?
17:37
Do I like acrylics? What about watercolors?
17:39
How do I feel about gouache? And yeah, it was a, it was a
17:44
whole year. And so I worked at it like a
17:46
job. I would walk the dog, I would
17:48
spend 6 hours in the studio. I would, I would just work,
17:52
work, work. And, and at the end of that
17:56
year, it was funny. I had a friend of mine and say,
17:58
hey, you want to, you want to go have fun and go to an art class
18:01
with me. I go sure.
18:04
You're like, funny you should ask.
18:06
Well, that seems a little odd, but OK, yeah, I'll go to
18:09
somebody else's class. And and I did and the the the
18:14
instructor was great. First of all, she got us
18:17
completely out of our comfort zone.
18:19
I was doing things I never would have expected.
18:22
And in that, in that, you know, four week, you know, every
18:26
Saturday for four hours kind of thing, I was doing things I
18:30
would have never given myself permission to do my on my own.
18:36
And, and that took me from having a skill at painting again
18:41
to trying things I would have never done.
18:45
And I discovered in that process the idea of layering and using
18:50
that knife and doing things with the color and, and all of my
18:55
things that were already sort of part of how I I saw life anyway,
19:00
which was not hyper realism anymore.
19:03
It was essence oriented, became more of the process of exploring
19:09
and and editing and taking bits out so you could actually enjoy.
19:16
And I started realizing I don't see that around actually at all.
19:21
And that became my voice a little bit.
19:26
But I had a relative and then a friend simultaneously asked me
19:32
to do commissions for them. And as I was doing it, I
19:36
discovered a couple of things. One of them was the florals that
19:41
I was creating at the time became sort of my dialogue about
19:46
the situation that I had just experienced over the last two
19:49
years, which was this really hard, really painful, life
19:55
altering experience. When I got burned and had to go
20:00
through all those surgeries and had to go through, I mean, there
20:04
were. The two main surgeries, the, the
20:08
grafting surgeries, but then there were four more just to try
20:12
to keep the scarring really minimized and, and, and not
20:18
destroy, you know, all the work that the surgeons had done.
20:24
Gosh, this feels much heavier than it should be, but this was
20:26
part of that exploration and, and how I ended up doing all the
20:30
layers. And when all of a sudden I
20:32
realized my layers became, you know, the beauty of life before
20:37
the burns, which is, you know, pretty light hearted.
20:40
And so there's abstracts underneath all of those.
20:44
And then when I was doing those early florals, all of the
20:47
backgrounds were pretty dark. And that described the scenario
20:52
of the, the season of difficulty for me.
20:56
And then there was the florals that were on top and they were
20:59
all bright and beautiful and, and, and I realized as I was
21:03
starting to name my pieces, they were, they were always being
21:07
named what I was feeling or what I was, how I, I would interpret
21:13
that experience in that moment or how I felt through part of
21:18
the process. And people, as I started
21:22
exhibiting and, and people started becoming aware of my
21:25
work, I had people in my exhibits crying and talking
21:29
about how they were so moved by that.
21:33
And I just was, I I I didn't realize I had found exactly what
21:38
my calling was, which is this this place of of connecting
21:42
people to how they actually feel about things, even though maybe
21:46
they hadn't given words to them yet.
21:49
So that whole idea, yeah. The idea that, you know, a
21:53
picture is worth 1000 words. These paintings were like, no
21:57
joke, how people were coming. I mean it.
22:00
And it wasn't like a one off thing.
22:01
I Rob would say we should start putting a couch and you should
22:05
charge for service. Like I also moonlight as a
22:08
therapist and feel like the same thing and then come talk.
22:14
But that was, I mean, it was, it was this really special and
22:17
sweet gift and, and, and it became, I'd done that for
22:22
probably three years, I guess, before I had somebody who was a
22:29
collector of mine and I was prolific.
22:31
Once I, once that rhythm of the florals came to be, I actually
22:36
like boom. I had 20 paintings going out of
22:39
time. And they weren't these small
22:41
little paintings. They, but they weren't 8 footers
22:43
either. They were probably, you know,
22:45
anywhere from 18 by 24 to 36 by 40 eights.
22:49
And I mean, I just, I just was jamming on them and I had, it
22:55
was like I felt like I had a lot to say and a lot to express.
22:59
And so it came flooding out. And that was kind of the
23:04
beginning of my journey. And when Rob and I went, you
23:09
know, because that joke at that dinner when he goes, I don't
23:12
understand, turned into a year later, I was doing my first
23:18
little show and and then a year after that, I was doing my first
23:23
major show. And then two years after that, I
23:27
was starting to exhibit pretty regularly.
23:30
He was like, OK, I guess I see it now.
23:33
And that was. Pretty easy.
23:35
Makes sense, yeah. It was it was an amazing aha for
23:39
both of us because those were not easy years.
23:42
It's not like if you're. If you're talking about, this is
23:45
a long loop back to the whole question, which is.
23:49
Open the. Loop but but but then when when
23:55
the cars happened, so it was one car.
23:59
Somebody asked me to do a car for their office who was a
24:02
collector already and and then I.
24:05
Was the car was a lot. It was a Porsche.
24:07
That was actually the whole reason why I did it.
24:09
OK, OK. I was like a Porsche.
24:12
You're like, fine, put my arm. That's all right, as long as you
24:15
understand you're paying me either way.
24:20
Love you right. And, and they're like, of
24:25
course, I mean, I already love the work.
24:27
Clearly I already love the work. So we're we're I'm gonna I'm but
24:31
I, as much as I love your florals and your abstracts, I
24:33
kind of really want to have a car in my office.
24:36
And I was like, OK, And it turned out that one of the guys
24:39
working at Seema saw it and and then the guy who was at SEMA
24:45
looked at my page. We knew each other.
24:47
This is this is going back to 20, early 2017 at the let me
24:54
back up. I finished that painting and I
24:56
was like, oh, shoot, this is a lot of fun.
24:58
And so I was like, if this is a thing and it would, and I don't
25:00
want to be like just a, a Porsche artist or whatever.
25:03
I and honestly, I didn't even know there were Porsche artists
25:06
at that moment. I didn't know there were car
25:09
artists. Quite frankly, I just genuinely
25:11
had no idea in that space that there were outside of
25:14
illustration. I didn't know that was a thing.
25:19
And I was like, man, if this is a thing, I'm going to do one
25:22
more car and see if this is a a thing for me.
25:25
And I did a 427 Cobra and I had the hood line on and I was like,
25:33
shoot, man, I kind of love that. Oh, I can see the whole
25:36
collection now. Oh, it's good.
25:37
I'm going to call it the other women.
25:39
I'm going to name them all women and this is their face and I'm
25:42
going to do this whole thing and I don't know where I'm going to
25:46
go with it, but I love it. But but I live here now and
25:49
that's well, that that leads into something that I was going
25:52
to ask you because you name the car portraits woman's names.
25:57
And so I was wondering how that came about and and how do you
26:03
like, do the names just come to you?
26:04
Like what is the process for naming the paintings?
26:08
No, there, I mean back in the in the the 1st and if if a client
26:12
has a name for their car, I always lean into that.
26:15
I will always I will defer to that.
26:17
That's like the first one was Stefan because I love it.
26:21
That was the name of the car and I.
26:24
Can't hear that name without thinking of Saturday Night Live.
26:26
I don't know if you remember that character, but.
26:30
Well, and I have a few German friends who that's exactly how
26:33
they say it, so I can't help myself when I do it.
26:39
Yeah, but that. But otherwise, you know, if
26:42
there's anomalies or there's a series, like I did the series
26:45
for the first time, I did a series for the Saratoga
26:50
Automobile Museum. I didn't know what I was going
26:53
to name all the cars. And so I just went with the
26:56
title of what the collection of cars was, which was abstract it,
27:01
I think they called it rare air was the collection and I didn't
27:06
want to go off that. So I said abstracted air.
27:09
So that way it was distinguished.
27:11
So that was my leaning to. Sure, we're going to pick a
27:16
demographic, right to appeal to, you know, high net worth car
27:21
people is a good one, right? And I didn't even think of it
27:24
like that, honestly. That's why I honestly like it
27:27
sounds like I was so intentional.
27:29
But the Porsche was the first thing that I did.
27:31
It was what I grew up around. It's what I loved, right?
27:34
So the Cobra was the second car and a Mustang Fastback was the
27:38
3rd. See, I knew.
27:40
So so that was those were the first three cars and I was
27:46
working on that Mustang when Peter from Seema called me up
27:52
and said, hey, fuck, I use spot at our artwork walk.
27:57
Would you want to be there? And you know the answer is
28:01
always. When you don't know what is
28:03
what, you say yes. Absolutely.
28:06
And I didn't know what I was saying yes to.
28:09
My husband still worked at PRI. That, by the way, that's where
28:12
we met 100 maybe 98 years earlier.
28:16
Give or take, Yeah. Yeah.
28:19
Ours were around great. So I mean.
28:21
They were around, they were racing.
28:23
They had a horse on the front. But that was that was that was
28:30
legit. That was like he was still at
28:32
PRI and I'm like, hey, I just got invited to be at SEMA in the
28:37
art walk section and he's like with the cars.
28:42
I go, I know I only have two paintings here 'cause the third
28:46
one was gone. I go, but I have photos, so I'm
28:49
gonna see about making prints. And I don't even know how to do
28:53
prints. I don't I've never done all
28:54
that. So that's.
28:56
It was a whole different thing. I'm gonna learn, yeah.
28:59
Yeah. I mean some.
29:00
Of the things, then let's figure it out, right?
29:02
That's and I think that that's kind of the essence of so much
29:06
of people's experience in the car world.
29:08
It's like, I don't know how I got here, but this is magical
29:11
and or I'm going to figure it out because like you said, I'm
29:13
going to. Feel miserably, but I'm not
29:16
going to lean in one. Way or another I'm getting a
29:18
story out of it and sometimes you just have to say yes for the
29:20
plot, right? Like.
29:23
You found your place. You found your people.
29:25
I. Did well and not right away.
29:27
So I did that first SEMA show. I had a, I had all the so by the
29:32
way, that was August when I got the invitation end of August, I
29:35
was going to my high school reunion for the week and I was
29:40
like, I don't even know what I'm going to do when I get back
29:42
because I have a show in in October with the other stuff and
29:46
now I've got the show in the first week in November and I
29:50
have to work for both. I like busted out between the
29:55
two shows. I had, I don't know, 7 paintings
29:58
that I finished in the next two months.
30:00
Wow. That's incredible.
30:02
Yeah. Yeah.
30:03
Well, and so it was work on you mentioned with the florals you
30:07
had. Do you have more than one going
30:09
at once or do you dedicate you know, you start to finish, you
30:12
do 1 and then you start like how does that what is your?
30:15
No. Back in those days in
30:17
particular, I'd have 10 paintings easily going at A, at
30:21
a clip, at least 10. I am.
30:25
I'm very fortunate, this wall that I have next to me over
30:28
here, I have 12345 paintings plus 3 easels.
30:33
So there's still, you know, anywhere from 4:00 to 8:00
30:38
paintings going at a time. I am not like I used to be, like
30:43
back in those early days. There's just so much I had to
30:46
get out. And now I'm a little slower, you
30:48
know, 150 years. It makes it a little you've.
30:51
Had time to process and now you can just really focus and enjoy.
30:55
It's what you hate. But I'm gonna.
30:59
Make a noise when I get out of this cheerleader, just so you
31:01
know. Well, we all Ryan, right?
31:07
So I mean, our Fast forward, I guess where you are now, most of
31:10
your commissions are collectors. You've mentioned some museums.
31:13
Museums we know and love, right? Desperately love.
31:16
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, this is sort of
31:20
yeah, yeah, yeah. Like what's the breakdown of
31:22
your, your commissions these days?
31:23
Like who? Who you painting for?
31:27
Well, I'm sitting here looking at my project list.
31:29
I am blessed that there's, I used to take every Commission
31:38
that comes in and of course you take every Commission,
31:41
especially when you're trying to build something and I still do.
31:44
But it depends on if somebody wants to wait for a year or a
31:48
year and a half or longer now for the commissions.
31:53
And some people don't like that. And they and their whole thing
31:56
is, well, you know how you win me over is if you give me a good
32:00
deal and you get me to the front of the line and I go well.
32:08
That would be. Really rude.
32:10
Yeah. That would be really rude to the
32:12
person who's been waiting for a year, who's finally gotten there
32:19
and I it's been a weird thing. You know what I do not.
32:25
I do not take that lightly. It is.
32:28
It took a long time to get to this place and I do not say that
32:33
mockingly. It is a big freaking deal that I
32:37
get to say. Achievement that's we had
32:40
Valentina Trentini. I don't know if you've crossed
32:43
paths with her. Work is amazing, I have not met
32:45
her in person but I already. Told we got to make that one.
32:47
I want to meet you. Yeah, yeah, I know.
32:50
We need to make that happen. We need to various combinations.
32:53
To Graham and I told her we have to meet.
32:56
Yeah, tell me the next time you make that.
32:57
Happen, I know I have a better in person either like I know I
33:01
think between the four of us, like weird combinations have met
33:03
in person and not so we'll make that happen.
33:06
But she was saying a similar thing in terms of like building
33:10
her business. You know, initially, like you
33:11
said, you take all the work that is comes your way and it sounds
33:17
so counterintuitive, but like what an achievement as an artist
33:19
to be able to say, like be able to be, you know, discerning with
33:25
what you take on or what you say yes to or to have a wait list.
33:28
Like what an amazing achievement.
33:30
You know, that's to me, that's one of those like you've
33:32
arrived. And and quite frankly, I because
33:37
again, I'm looking at that list and I go it, it's very hard to
33:41
tell a client, I'm pretty sure it's going to take 18 months to
33:46
finish. Yeah.
33:49
But I can't say 100%, but I'm going to put a mark on it and,
33:53
and we're going to work around that.
33:55
Now. I will tell you that most of my
33:57
clients, even the newer clients, which I am so grateful for, say
34:03
I would rather wait and have it be done right.
34:06
Then you push and get it done fast, right?
34:10
You don't want a gift that is that a client says that to you.
34:13
It's like because the alternative is, you know, I got
34:17
a deadline. Yeah, I.
34:19
Mean, I know, Rod Emery. Yeah.
34:22
I know him. I have met Rod.
34:24
We're not like, I wouldn't say we're friends, but we're we're,
34:27
we know each other, yeah. We're going to have him on
34:29
eventually. Great guy.
34:32
But he has the same problem, right?
34:33
He's got this, you know, this list.
34:35
He's he's working on cars, what, 345 years out and you know, this
34:39
is a this is a demographic again, they're not used to being
34:41
told no, right. You know, their first question
34:44
is well, what? Well, you know what it will
34:46
take, you know, to but but he's like you, you know, I mean, this
34:48
is this is an art form. This takes time.
34:50
You don't want to rush this. It's just.
34:53
But yeah, what a problem to. What a problem to have.
34:55
You know it's. Well, and I'm trying to get
34:58
better because like I told you, I was, I, I was, I'm, I'm in my
35:01
zone. I forget that I have to
35:03
communicate with people. Sometimes I think it's gonna
35:05
happen organically. And then I forget and a month or
35:08
two has gone by and my my they're.
35:11
Like also not close to them and they will know.
35:15
You guys know I mean. Telepathy of artists.
35:17
It's a thing, right? It's, it's a weird thing.
35:20
I and, and Fast forward from those days when like I'm fast
35:25
forwarding to now and real quick, Rob is now my business
35:29
manager. He's the one who handles all the
35:32
logistics. He has the front office.
35:35
We have an assistant that like, there's these little things that
35:38
you just never, ever as an artist, you do everything
35:41
yourself. And I ran the business myself
35:43
until 20/19 and when he retired from his other job and he was
35:47
doing the Festival of Arts with me and he was going up to Pebble
35:51
with me and we were heading out to do this crazy trip out to
35:54
Saudi Arabia, he was like, this is really cool.
35:59
You're like, welcome to the party, Sir.
36:01
Yeah, yeah. I'm.
36:03
Just going to tell you right now, it's a lot of work and by
36:06
the way, I've got to hire somebody because I can't keep
36:09
doing this myself at but just so you know, you have the perfect
36:13
skill set for everything I need. Like not to, but you've got to
36:17
point on it. I'm just going to leave this
36:18
here and you pick it. Up going to say not not a bad
36:22
gig, you just have to sit in front of the computer a lot more
36:25
than you wanted to when you retired from your other job,
36:27
right? Right, so I've got a a Ferrari
36:31
250 GTO. I don't, but if I I did and I
36:34
wanted a painting, Dang. Ryan, what am I doing?
36:36
Wrong. I wouldn't be doing this podcast
36:38
if I did, but. I'm examining all my life
36:41
choices, yeah. But I've got this beautiful car.
36:45
I, I, you know, I, I want a painting.
36:48
I want to, you know, memorialize this very special car to me.
36:52
Do you work from a photo? Do you come to me?
36:54
Do you do you need do you feel like you need to take the car in
36:57
in person? Is this like a life drawing
36:58
class where you've got to see it from all angles?
37:00
Or is this how do you? Work, we're smart.
37:02
I would say yes, yeah, probably I would say and you're next
37:09
drive me out there. But that's not practical.
37:10
Someday, Yeah, yeah that's not practical because because I I'm
37:15
fortunate I have clients all around the globe and so it's got
37:18
to be a photo so usually I will say send me 1010 of your photos
37:23
if I, I prefer them to be professional photos from my
37:28
clients but if they're not send me this I'll give them a little
37:32
tutorial of how to shoot it for me I'll.
37:36
But I talk them through, I say, tell me what makes your heart
37:38
sing about this car? What is it that you love about
37:41
this car? And, and, and I have that
37:44
conversation and I, I like them to talk about the car And, and
37:49
from there I start making notes. Now, if they want to be a
37:53
contributing factor in that conversation, as I move forward,
37:57
I will start telling them what I, what I see and what I'd like
38:00
to do. And, you know, usually part of
38:05
the conversation is, Hey, this is my minimum size.
38:08
What are we looking at doing for you?
38:10
Are you thinking, do you have the space?
38:12
Tell me the space that you'd like to hang this painting.
38:15
Such a big deal. People just think they want to
38:17
have a painting and I go, no, no, no, no.
38:19
There's a place that this. Where do you envision this
38:22
going? I need to show it to me.
38:24
Show me what you're thinking and then I can work from there.
38:28
So if at all possible, I'd love to go to a client's home.
38:32
That's actually, I work so much better because then I am with
38:36
them. I get to know them, I get to see
38:39
their car and I get to see how they how they like to live.
38:42
That's actually my best paintings have always been from
38:46
that. But you've seen some, some, some
38:49
places. I bet you've met some folks.
38:51
I mean, I've you've probably seen some some weird wild stuff.
38:55
Tell some. Story.
38:58
There are Ndas that have been so love is actually a legitimate
39:03
state. Yeah.
39:05
Like really, I can never tell anyone.
39:08
Like based on the Cayman Islands here anything can be shared.
39:13
Man, oh, there are some really good stories.
39:15
But anyway, yeah, I bet. Yeah, but that's cool.
39:18
You've, you've talked about sort of translating the feeling of
39:22
the car into the art. And we just had Scott Kruger on
39:26
last week who is the head of design for, for the Stalantis
39:30
brands for North America. And he's talking about
39:32
translating, you know, how do we translate the driving experience
39:36
we want people to have into the physical car?
39:39
So how do you, do you know the feeling that you want to convey
39:44
when you go into the piece? Does that, does the car reveal
39:47
that? And how do you translate?
39:49
How do you deliver that through your art?
39:53
Oh gosh, that's such a good question.
39:55
I wish I but if if I had a pat answer, I'd probably be able to
39:59
give it. I, I know how things make me
40:03
feel. So if I talk to you and I hear
40:06
how that that makes you feel, I will.
40:11
Gosh, I hate this word. I hate to sound all psycho
40:14
babbly, but I've been told I'm in an empath so that when
40:17
somebody's feeling something, I will usually feel it with them.
40:20
Yeah. And that's not that.
40:23
I'm not trying to to, you know, sound all touchy feely or
40:28
whatever, but I am actually a little bit touchy feely that
40:31
way. I, I feel deeply about things
40:33
and, and so when I see somebody else who has a love of
40:38
something, it comes if they pour that out, I feel that and now I
40:42
want to pour that back in and that's sort of how I guess I
40:46
roll. Yeah, yeah.
40:47
Well, and it sounds like you honed, I mean, again, it's like
40:50
you look at, you know, something you didn't expect to apply in
40:54
this situation, but it sounds like a lot of sort of honing.
40:58
That was the work that you did just after the accident where
41:03
you realize kind of when you were in the middle of it that
41:05
you were processing your feelings.
41:07
So you know what it would like to take a feeling and translate
41:10
it and communicate that through the paint.
41:13
And it's just that the subject matter is different in this, you
41:17
know, you're. Exactly.
41:19
No, you exactly nailed it. And honestly in those early
41:22
paintings I didn't even realize that was what was happening.
41:25
Like all that story started to emerge probably around the 5th
41:31
or 6th painting. That's when I started realizing,
41:34
wait, the rhythm of me making these paintings has a story to
41:39
it. And now I need to articulate
41:41
what that looks like and why. And so I started to journal
41:45
about it and write it down and, and, and it kind of was
41:50
cathartic. The whole thing became a
41:51
cathartic experience about the the injuries and the, you know,
41:56
I hate to say it, it's not like when you hear that somebody's
42:00
been disfigured that can range. For me, it was very minor, but
42:04
it was still a disfigurement on A and, and an adjustment to how
42:08
I saw myself and saw and how things looked and reacted and
42:15
worked. So.
42:16
Yeah, well, it changes how you move through the world.
42:19
It changes your perspective, like you said, it was exactly,
42:23
you know, and to kind of bring it back, like you mentioned your
42:25
faith and sort of like changing perspective.
42:28
And I think there are moments in life where you're like, man, I
42:31
don't know that I would have seen it if there wasn't this
42:33
enormous glaring sign, you know? And for you, it was in the form
42:37
of the accident. And yeah, I mean, I've had that
42:39
too, where you're like, I don't know that I would have noticed
42:41
it if life hadn't like knocked me on the head.
42:45
But here we are, and I'm. Going to call it a 2 by 4 right
42:48
just. Straight to the noggin where
42:50
you're like no, loud and clear. I got it.
42:53
Oh, that's why I went through this.
42:55
I mean, it's, it's it's I don't wish hardship on anyone I know.
43:03
But I will say we are chiseled through it.
43:06
Yep, that's a good description. That's a very good description.
43:10
So you bringing it back to Pebble this year, you debuted a
43:14
very special piece which is actually behind you right now,
43:18
the lovely. Yeah.
43:19
So can you tell us a little bit about like the car itself, what
43:24
the experience was like for you? And I would love to hear what
43:26
it's like. You know, we all, we all like
43:29
joking, not joking. Say Pebble is kind of our Mecca
43:33
and it's like the best place in the world.
43:35
What is it like to debut a piece of art in at Pebble Beach,
43:41
especially during car week, which is like the best week of
43:45
the year? Like I really OK so so if I back
43:50
up to when I first exhibited at SEMA in 2017, which I can't
43:55
believe this is my 9th SEMA or the 9th year of SEMA for me.
44:00
Incredible. Blows my mind.
44:02
That was that was where I debuted my first.
44:07
I guess it was 9 paintings. That's what I had there, 9
44:10
paintings. And I will tell you I didn't
44:15
know anything about anything. I didn't know there were
44:18
concourse. I didn't understand there were
44:21
places that people actually showed.
44:22
There are. I was meeting all those
44:24
automotive artists, Tom Fritz, Max Grundy, Ed Tillrock, all
44:29
those guys were there. And I'm like, hey, you guys, I'm
44:34
Lynn. What are we all?
44:36
Doing. Yeah, Tell me about what you do.
44:39
And they're all looking at me like, what is this girl doing
44:42
all right? Literally is she new here?
44:45
What is happening? Yeah, clearly she's the New Girl
44:48
at school and, and it was eye opening.
44:52
It was such an eye opening experience.
44:54
And so I had to become a student of all things automotive.
45:01
And it couldn't just be trade shows because that's what I knew
45:03
it had to be like what's what am I going to do with all this
45:06
stuff? And in that search over the next
45:10
year, I discovered, well, because of what I love to paint,
45:15
which regardless of their worth, I didn't have any concept of how
45:20
much those cars cost. I had no idea.
45:22
Let's be very clear, it's only because I like the form.
45:26
From growing up around them, I had no idea.
45:29
Well, you're going to get along with Valentina because she said
45:31
the same thing. She's like, yes.
45:33
She doesn't want to know what they're worth, right?
45:35
You know. Let's press on me if I don't
45:38
know. Well thankfully I'm not painting
45:41
on them. Holy cow, I like sweat when I
45:44
watch your videos. Like ow, like I think just make
45:50
I'm gonna make her nervous hanging over her shoulder.
45:52
No, but there's no. I think, yeah.
45:55
So mine is much easier. I'm just on canvas.
45:59
But the idea that that these cars were so beautiful to me
46:04
from growing up all the way through, I understood.
46:07
I knew cars. I just didn't understand their
46:11
their place and their value. I just knew people drew drove
46:14
them, but that they showed them that they're, I mean, I've been
46:18
going to our local car show for a lot of years, but not looking
46:23
at it like, oh, these are other than they, these are art forms
46:27
on wheels. These are not things I would
46:30
normally consider painting until I had the privilege of doing
46:34
that first one. And so I had to find out.
46:39
I became a student. I became a student of all things
46:41
in the car at the Expansive Car world and Concours.
46:45
I figured, well, because these are the cars I like to paint.
46:48
These are the cars I should, I probably need to find out what
46:51
are these Concours. And I could show you my little
46:54
notebook, which is embarrassing, but it was where I wrote down
46:58
all of the stuff I needed to know.
46:59
And I figured out that Pebble was the Granddaddy and Amelia
47:05
was a 2nd, but it was still a beautiful.
47:09
It was still like in the States. It was incredible, right?
47:13
It's an intimate as I would describe it after I went the
47:17
first time, an intimate Pebble was how the 2019 experience was
47:23
for me. And and then the Dasty and oh,
47:28
there's shows in Tokyo. Oh, there's this.
47:31
And you know, all these different places that all of a
47:33
sudden in my head started spinning and I calendared every
47:36
single event and I started Aster saying, where do I want to go?
47:39
Yep, what do I want to do? I got to get I got to be there.
47:43
So if Pebble was the, the target, I wanted to do this,
47:47
this and this, but I did Amelia right away.
47:51
But all the meanwhile, I'm still doing my florals and I'm still
47:54
doing Festival of Arts in Laguna for two months every summer.
47:58
And I'm, there's just these credible things that I was still
48:02
privileged to do. And, and then I got into the
48:07
Amelia and I had my like probably my 4th car Commission
48:12
at that point. And I was just painting them
48:15
and, and I went to that first one and I, it broke free.
48:20
It broke free. I had, I have clients today who
48:23
are, I had no idea who they were.
48:27
I had no idea who they were. And they were like, like scooped
48:30
up these paintings and yeah, these really, really, really
48:33
good prices in comparison, I. Was gonna ask, do you ever
48:37
think, yeah, maybe I should be charging?
48:38
More. I've been on the ground floor.
48:40
Lucky. Consider yourself lucky.
48:43
Yeah. Moving.
48:43
On yeah, one of those clients actually talked to me this last
48:47
time and about Gia actually and and he's like prices have gone
48:53
up and go well, yeah. So has everything, Lynn.
48:59
It's you're just, you know, you're right through it's and
49:03
only good. You've got a demographic that
49:05
can that can pay for this stuff. But you know, the painting
49:07
behind you looks like a beautiful Ferrari 250.
49:09
They can't quite tell. Spider.
49:11
Yeah. Spider.
49:12
OK. Spider.
49:13
Oh, California spider. Beautiful car.
49:15
Pretty. Does anyone ever come to you and
49:17
say, you know, hey, I've got this 84 Lebaron with the wood on
49:21
the sides? I think that would make a they
49:23
do OK. So it's not just Ferraris and
49:24
300 SLS. Well, but then they see, then
49:27
they ask me the price of something.
49:30
Not often will I I go and well, do you have, could you just do a
49:34
small thing for me, like 1 of the small and then I go, no, no,
49:38
that's a print. That's a print.
49:40
That's. A print and we'll draw your
49:42
attention to. First you take your K card and
49:45
you go yeah. But you ever come back, I will
49:48
have if you and and and here's the thing.
49:51
So all those years ago, I, I was, I was never going to say no
49:58
to any of the commissions that I was asked to do.
50:00
And quite frankly, I did one for a young man.
50:07
I think it was actually during COVID.
50:09
He, he saw one of my prints and he believed that was a painting.
50:14
And he was probably 18. And with tears in his eyes, he
50:17
goes, I just want you've never done an El Camino.
50:21
Would you do an El Camino for my, my grandfather?
50:25
This is a story I will tell you is going to get me in a lot of
50:28
trouble. I've not done it since, by the
50:30
way, but he goes, would you please do 1?
50:33
And I go, oh, son, I, I OK, you're looking at a, a print.
50:40
I can't do it for the print price.
50:42
So. Oh.
50:44
Yeah, how much can you afford? And he told me and his dad
50:49
helped him and I said, I will do that very small painting.
50:53
And I will tell you I was using a knife that was this big to do
51:00
a painting this big of that young man's grandfather is El
51:08
Camino. And I said, it's got to be
51:09
simple. It doesn't work very well with
51:11
those, with those tiny little lions to work that small, which
51:14
is part of the reason why I don't do small paintings
51:16
anymore. It's it's so hard.
51:18
Yeah, that goodwill will come back to you later.
51:20
Yeah, that's. I love that so much and you know
51:24
it brings them joy. Pride.
51:26
Yeah, I'm sure. He tried.
51:28
That said, you know us creative types are forever undervaluing
51:35
ourselves. That's.
51:38
Right there is that. Well, it is.
51:40
And that's why when somebody says that my prices are Dang
51:43
expensive, I was like, I'm pretty sure that's not a big
51:48
deal for you, the person who will tell me that.
51:51
And I'm like, but, but it's not like people are buying that
51:57
everyday. Also, show me your paintings and
52:00
tell me what you charge. You know, we get that with a
52:03
podcast. It's like, don't criticize a
52:05
thing until you can point to your podcast, right?
52:07
I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's funny how that works, right?
52:10
Yeah, we, we, we there's a true, no true statement.
52:15
Then we'll put our money where we value things and people
52:19
either value creativity and the actual creators, the crafters
52:26
who do that, or they don't. And so I'm not going to quibble
52:30
about it with anyone anymore. It's just OK, if you're, if
52:34
that's too expensive for you, I'll have prints for the in in
52:37
another couple of months. And and that's a better price
52:40
point for you. Yeah.
52:41
Yeah. But that does not happen in a
52:43
vacuum. No.
52:45
Also, you have a three-year waiting list, so I think you're
52:48
pricing things just fine, Lynn, so.
52:52
Yeah, I, I, I, I actually limited my, my call, like my
52:56
call list to 10A year now. And so it keeps it at about a
53:00
year, year and a half. So it's, it's, it's actually a
53:03
really nice. It makes me feel better because
53:06
it was, it had moved up to two years.
53:08
I was like starting to sweat. And then it becomes really hard
53:12
for me to feel good about what I'm creating for the person who
53:15
I'm sure who's. Waiting.
53:17
Yeah. The pressure.
53:18
The pressure doesn't create great art.
53:20
Always, Yeah. No.
53:25
But this is historic.
53:48
This is their first event in the US and you get to be a part of
53:55
it. So tell us.
53:56
I'm very honest. That came about what that is
53:58
like and what people can expect to see when they see you there.
54:02
My goodness. Okay, so I met Gerard, who's the
54:06
director at Amelia, a year and a half ago.
54:11
And he was just delightful, wonderful.
54:15
And, and, and he had invited me at that time.
54:19
And I go as we get closer, let me know what, what your plans
54:22
are. And then I saw him at Pebble
54:23
that year and then I saw him at Amelia this year.
54:26
And he goes, how come you haven't signed up?
54:29
And I go, well, there's a couple of reasons and the I'm not going
54:36
to be rude about what one of them was, but he's like, I
54:40
really want you there, Lynn. And, and I go, I appreciate
54:42
that. But after Amelia, he was in LA
54:48
and I, I mean, if you live in Southern California, that is not
54:53
a small drive to come down to San Clemente.
54:56
That's an hour and a half. That's a.
54:57
Commitment, yeah. Yeah, and he came down and he
55:01
spent a couple hours here talking us through and and I
55:07
said, well, that means a lot to me.
55:10
I mean, if somebody's taking time, just not just giving me
55:13
lip service, but taking making time, right him and talk to me
55:17
about something and we can talk through and I get to see his
55:20
plan. Not while I'm working at a trade
55:22
show or at A, at a concord or whatever, but I actually like
55:27
comes to my studio and spends time.
55:29
I, I'm going to listen to him. And I said, OK, I'll, I, I never
55:35
do first time events. I just think that's
55:38
unfortunately you're, you're risking a lot.
55:41
And they were still quite small at the time.
55:43
And I am so enormously proud not only of them, but that I got, I
55:49
get to say I was one of the, I think I was, if not the first,
55:56
maybe the second artist who committed really, which is kind
56:00
of a big deal. That is a big deal.
56:02
And I'm, I, I feel pretty, I feel pretty proud to be a part
56:08
of it. I think they, they have the
56:10
bones and the foundation for something that's going to be
56:13
magical. Obviously, New York City.
56:17
I'm going, I'm going home a little bit.
56:19
You know, Pratt having been my my stomping ground and I have
56:23
really dear friends in that area.
56:25
So good gravy, man, I'm, I'm, I think they're doing everything
56:29
right, but you know, there's naysayers out there and I'm, I'm
56:33
a little sad to know some of those guys who are, who are kind
56:37
of not being 100% supportive, but whatever.
56:43
That's right. I mean, that's, you know, it's
56:45
like we had Dom Infante from Subaru and he said there has to
56:49
be a little bit of turmoil or you're not doing your job right.
56:52
You know, you want a little bit of dissent or whatever to start.
56:56
Yeah. But I know that I've gotten to
56:58
know Ramon and Gerard and got to talk to them in Paris right
57:03
after they had announced the New York event.
57:08
And like you said, I mean, Gerhard is just so generous with
57:11
his time and he's so passionate about the event.
57:14
And I think the whole team is. So I'm really excited for you
57:18
that you get to be part of it. And for them for the debut, I
57:22
think it's it's just such a unique event and I'm excited
57:25
that they're bringing it to the States.
57:27
And I'm really excited to hear about that after after it all
57:32
happens. It's gonna be wonderful.
57:34
And you usually you recently had a big milestone with Lynn
57:38
Heiner, Japan, is this correct? Well, OK, so just to finish with
57:43
Retro, you had asked me about what I would be showing.
57:46
So right before, before Pebble, I had to look at I don't get to
57:53
do personal work very often. I think I was telling you this,
57:55
Lindsay, I don't, I almost never get to do personal work.
57:59
I it's all Commission work or it's for the museum or whatever.
58:03
And so, so it had been two or three years at Pebbles since I
58:09
showed something original that was from my collection that I
58:12
did for Pebble and, and in prep for New York.
58:18
I knew I wanted to have at least one of the pieces done to show a
58:21
Pebble so that I could have that.
58:24
But at New York, they're outside of, I think, one wall that will
58:29
have reproductions. Every piece is going to be
58:31
original and it's all new. That's amazing.
58:37
So. Everybody, yeah, it's that's
58:42
very focused work. I've, I've still got 2 like
58:45
that's the back of one of my commissions that I'm working on
58:48
the and on another easel is another Commission.
58:51
But otherwise, there's 1234 pieces that are are showing
58:57
there that are new and and that was that's pretty exciting for
59:03
me. That's incredibly exciting.
59:06
Well, we will. We will be living vicariously
59:08
through your Instagram. Hopefully you'll be sharing the
59:11
experience, but you guys are. Going to go.
59:14
Come on. Well, you never know.
59:16
I know. I still, I still, I think I'm a
59:18
little delusional that I'm like, it could still happen.
59:20
We'll see. I would love to be there.
59:23
So you know, I may, I may pop up at your booth.
59:26
Stay tuned. I love it.
59:29
Yeah, there's just so much. There's just so much.
59:31
It's so hard to, you know, it's like a game of whack A mole.
59:34
But this is, yeah, this looks like it's going to be a really
59:36
good one, so. Yeah, I agree.
59:38
I agree. It's going to be a good one.
59:40
I I know people who are coming from out here, they're going to
59:44
do a cool rally. They have busloads coming down.
59:48
I even from the museum in in certain they have people who are
59:53
going down. I was like, fantastic.
59:55
That's amazing to me. I mean, it should be an
59:58
international show, in my opinion.
1:00:00
It it has, who doesn't want to be in New York City at that time
1:00:04
of year? It's going to be magical.
1:00:06
Right. And they, they Gerardo was very
1:00:09
kind and shared a lot of the thinking behind how they chose
1:00:13
New York. And they put a lot of thought
1:00:15
into because like you said, they want to draw from not only
1:00:18
Europe, but here. And so they thought, where is a
1:00:20
good sort of in between. And given the incredible
1:00:24
calendar of automotive events, how do we put it?
1:00:26
So it's eating with something else.
1:00:28
New York in the fall is pretty amazing.
1:00:30
And it's convenient for people from Europe and even the West
1:00:33
Coast. So I think it's going to be a
1:00:35
really exciting confluence. Well, and you're my dog.
1:00:40
I'm so sorry. I'm going to go grab her please.
1:00:42
Keep talking. I will go to Ryan's point,
1:00:47
though. Ryan's point was, you know,
1:00:50
unless you do, unless you do a podcast, you have no idea.
1:00:54
Well, for a decade I ran trade shows.
1:00:57
So when somebody talks about all the things that go into running
1:01:01
an event, I actually understand that.
1:01:03
I understand that better than most.
1:01:08
And and so when we talk about things like what are we doing
1:01:13
with, you know, because it's a union town and all the move in
1:01:17
and it's all the different like logistical nightmare things they
1:01:23
have, like those were early questions for me, for the team.
1:01:28
Yeah, how do you say Teamsters in French?
1:01:30
I mean, that's just these are real real.
1:01:32
Considerations. Is that what they deal?
1:01:35
I don't even know if that's what they deal with in Paris, but
1:01:37
it's. Like, Oh yes, I'm sure they've
1:01:39
got their messy fine, fine folks, folks, fine folks.
1:01:43
Yeah, it is. I cannot imagine a more
1:01:47
logistically involved lack of a better way of saying that thing
1:01:52
to do than to put on something like Retro Mobile in New York.
1:01:55
So. My goodness, moving the cars in.
1:01:58
And how about hanging our art, I mean.
1:02:01
Yeah. Who's gonna touch my art?
1:02:04
Is it me? Or is it somebody else and they
1:02:07
put all those details out? Just the cheeses.
1:02:10
I mean, come on, you know it's. Ryan has the Ryan has his
1:02:15
priorities in order. Yeah, I know.
1:02:18
No, I I would love to go, Yeah. I would love I know we will
1:02:23
figure it out, but so tell us about I'm very.
1:02:26
Excited about that. And then you were asking me
1:02:28
about Japan. So Japan has been going on for
1:02:30
almost three years. We started the conversation at
1:02:33
SEMA in 2022 with some people who had bought some artwork for
1:02:39
me the year before. And then they made an
1:02:42
appointment while we're all at SEMA in 2022, and they said we
1:02:46
really would like to find a way to bring your artwork here.
1:02:50
And then we spent a year kind of developing what that would look
1:02:53
like. And our debut of having
1:02:56
Lindheiner Studios Japan. Wow, was at an event in 2024 and
1:03:04
it was such an incredible thing. And, and again, these things
1:03:10
just don't happen in a vacuum. It took a lot of like, I
1:03:16
honestly thought my trajectory was towards Europe.
1:03:19
We were planning on doing what you might call it's Goodwood and
1:03:26
the Concord of Elegance and Salaam Prive.
1:03:29
I mean, we had all the like, we knew exactly where we wanted to
1:03:33
be and when and, and over that time of starting to work towards
1:03:40
going to Europe is when these conversations were happening
1:03:43
with Japan. And, and I thought, well, gosh,
1:03:46
what if this is the thing? What if this is the trajectory
1:03:49
we're really should be considering?
1:03:51
And so again, with a lot of thought and prayer and, and
1:03:56
found it. Our translator was a friend of a
1:03:59
friend and he literally comes to all of our trips with us and,
1:04:03
and he's amazing and he's a business logistics guy.
1:04:07
He's that's, we're like, why are you here with us?
1:04:11
You literally go all over the globe and you're here with us.
1:04:15
I don't understand that, but we're going to be OK.
1:04:18
Thank you, Desmond. By the way, if you're watching
1:04:20
this, I love you. Thank you.
1:04:22
For making it happen. He does, he does he literally
1:04:26
he's he, he's at on every Zoom call.
1:04:29
He's, he comes to every trip. And, and it's just, you know,
1:04:34
two different cultural things and how we do things in the
1:04:37
States versus how they do things in Japan.
1:04:39
You know, we've had to learn a lot, but we have an amazing
1:04:44
group of, of, of people who believe in what we're doing
1:04:49
there. And it's a little slower in, in
1:04:52
the response time because they don't have the same like we have
1:04:57
events every weekend. If we wanted them right, we
1:05:00
could have them five in a weekend if we wanted them here
1:05:03
in Southern California or if I wanted to go somewhere here in
1:05:06
the states all year long. And and that's just not how they
1:05:12
roll there. So it's a little bit slower
1:05:15
moving and that's a little, it's stymieing for them.
1:05:18
It's challenging for us because we're busy here and we're trying
1:05:23
to build there, but we're figuring it out.
1:05:27
And. Figure it out, right?
1:05:30
Who's the guy that does the RWB Porsches?
1:05:32
What's his name? Nakai.
1:05:34
That guy, that guy, I don't know.
1:05:37
I'm thinking collaboration here. I, you know I.
1:05:40
Just think of the. Magic.
1:05:41
You could really want to. I want to wear my jammies so
1:05:44
bad. Dang it, Rob tells me.
1:05:46
A hard pass. He goes no.
1:05:50
It's like that is an area that I get veto power.
1:05:52
I don't say no. That's a hard no, Lynn.
1:05:57
Like, that is not the direction we'll be going.
1:05:59
Love that. Love that so much.
1:06:02
Yeah. Well, I feel like you're that
1:06:05
much closer to crossing paths with the with the Kai, right?
1:06:10
Either him or the Liberty. What guy?
1:06:11
I really love. Oh boy, yeah.
1:06:14
Sawzall and Sawzalls and Porsche is just.
1:06:16
It's not a combination for me, but.
1:06:19
I know, but it's such an amazing thing, right?
1:06:22
It's it's, you know, when people sell my artwork, they did not
1:06:25
get it. And they're like, I literally
1:06:27
had Concord judges at my at my first Amelia sitting there for
1:06:32
45 minutes saying that's not right.
1:06:35
I go, what is it exactly? That's not right?
1:06:37
And he goes, it's just if you were to look at the car at that
1:06:41
angle, it's I go. But you, you get that it's a
1:06:45
painting, right? It's not a photograph and.
1:06:48
And. I'm literally not.
1:06:51
I'm not using the tools to make that engineeringly correct.
1:06:56
I am doing that kind of freehand a little bit.
1:07:00
And then he's like, I can't stop looking at it, but it's just, Oh
1:07:04
my. God.
1:07:05
And his wife comes up and he, she goes, are you bothering this
1:07:08
young woman? And I?
1:07:09
And he goes, and he's smiling the whole time.
1:07:11
By the way, the sweet Concord judge, he's like, I don't get
1:07:16
it, but I can't stop looking at it.
1:07:17
It's like I can't make sense of it, but I can't walk away.
1:07:21
I know. And she goes.
1:07:22
You either buy it or you leave that.
1:07:24
I was going to say that and he's like, I'll take 2.
1:07:28
You need to start it in my own actually.
1:07:31
She actually did. She was like, she goes, I'm so
1:07:35
sorry. And I, are you kidding me?
1:07:36
This is a lot of fun. These are the conversations that
1:07:39
make me laugh and they and they're fun stories that AJR
1:07:42
song. 100 Bad Days make 100 good stories. 100 good stories makes
1:07:46
you interesting at parties. Exactly.
1:07:48
I've seen them in concert twice thanks to my 13 year old
1:07:52
daughter Elsa. Thank you very much.
1:07:53
They're wonderful. Yeah, I did that.
1:07:55
Somewhere we have them one. That's why we know the rotation.
1:07:58
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, the number of
1:08:01
times that I've caught myself humming.
1:08:02
I mean their songs are so catchy and the.
1:08:05
Lyrics are so. Frustrating.
1:08:06
Yeah. Yeah, Yeah.
1:08:08
I mean, they're just, it's they they have, like you said, you
1:08:11
saw a need in the market. They found a need in the market.
1:08:14
Yeah. They filled it with songs that
1:08:16
are appealing, that the parents can tolerate or enjoy even, dare
1:08:20
I say enjoy. Yeah.
1:08:22
They're great, They're great. I know they.
1:08:23
Are great. Well, again, I was not
1:08:25
anticipating that we would wrap up on AJR, but what a
1:08:28
delightful, what a delightful note to end on note.
1:08:32
Get it? So we obviously could keep
1:08:35
talking to you, Lynn. So oh.
1:08:37
My goodness, you guys are so much fun.
1:08:39
We won't hold you longer tonight, but this has been, you
1:08:44
know, as I, as I love the best conversations are a wide range
1:08:47
of topics. And I think we've done that here
1:08:48
tonight. Before we let you go, could you
1:08:52
remind people where they can find you and see your art and
1:08:55
follow along on somebody coming up?
1:08:58
Well, you can find me on my website.
1:09:01
That's probably the best place to find me, which is
1:09:03
lynnheiner.com. That's pretty simple.
1:09:06
And then, gosh, what's coming up?
1:09:09
Oh, and Instagram, Lynnheiner Cars, because I had the two
1:09:13
series going at the same time on Instagram.
1:09:16
I have Lynnheiner Art, which is my florals, but you're gonna see
1:09:20
all cars there now, but Lynnheiner Cars is my primary
1:09:23
page. So there's those are my places.
1:09:27
And then gosh, what's coming up? Well, there's Retro Mobile and
1:09:31
then I'm going to be at Bosai in Tokyo at the first weekend in
1:09:36
December and SEMA. Of course is SEMA, that's where.
1:09:41
And yeah. And you know, I didn't get a
1:09:45
chance to really talk about it, but I have been blessed that
1:09:48
last year in January, and this is going to be our second year,
1:09:51
I have been working with this group of other artists.
1:09:54
There's there's four of us total.
1:09:56
And we created the Art House collective and we are, yeah, we
1:10:01
have done our we did this inaugural event during Barrett
1:10:05
Jackson. Well, it wasn't during Barrett
1:10:08
Jackson. It was during Arizona Car Week
1:10:11
and and we became a pop up fine art gallery of automotive art
1:10:18
and we do it at the warehouse in Mesa.
1:10:21
And I was telling you for we built something out of nothing.
1:10:26
And this, this team of humanity, there's six of us, 4 artists and
1:10:31
the producer of the event and then our logistics person, who
1:10:35
is Rob. We have built this crazy amazing
1:10:41
gallery of, of very unique, very different artists, but all with
1:10:46
a lot of cars. So we're coming back for our
1:10:49
second year. We keep hearing about Arizona
1:10:51
Car Week and eventually we will get to go in person, but I love
1:10:54
that you are a part of it and that no doubt adds to it.
1:10:58
So is and is that? Is that a separate like?
1:11:02
Where can people find out about the collective?
1:11:06
So they can go to arthousecollective.org or on
1:11:09
Instagram. We have a a fledgling page, so
1:11:14
go follow. And make it, yeah.
1:11:15
Give them a follow, yeah? But if you wouldn't mind, what
1:11:19
you'll see is a tetrad. You'll see last year you were
1:11:22
talking about the 250 Ferrari and I thought maybe you might
1:11:25
have seen what we did. But we each interpreted that
1:11:28
car. That's our hero car, right?
1:11:30
So last year it was a Ferrari. We're about to unveil what is
1:11:33
our car for this year. But the 250 Ferrari was our our
1:11:39
hero car. And we each in that tetrad, even
1:11:43
though we all did the whole car, right?
1:11:45
You see our interpretation making the whole car.
1:11:49
So it's kind of cool. I love that.
1:11:50
All right, well, I'm going to be running to that.
1:11:51
Page as soon. As we sign off here, Yeah, yeah.
1:11:55
That's amazing and. It's better.
1:11:56
Follow me back, Lynn. Right.
1:11:58
Better. I will.
1:11:59
I will. No, like you're a great follow.
1:12:02
You are a great follow. I'm sure this will be a great
1:12:04
follow too. For sure.
1:12:06
And for the people that want to follow, it's Lynn with 1 NLYN,
1:12:09
just like our friend Lynn Woodward make we're keeping it
1:12:12
easy with keeping all the Lynn's spelled the same way and Heiner
1:12:15
is HINER, so everybody can find you easily.
1:12:21
And so for now, we will say thank you so much to Lynn for
1:12:23
joining us this week. And.
1:12:24
Thank you guys. For being here, we appreciate
1:12:28
everyone spending time with us each week telling your
1:12:30
enthusiast friends about the show.
1:12:32
And of course, if you like what we are doing, please consider
1:12:34
leaving a five star review as it really does help others find out
1:12:38
about the show. Remember to always be driving.
1:12:40
We're that car show and we'll see you next week.