Lots of people have asked me “Where do I get my ideas from?” Well the answer is pretty simple – I draw from iconic cycling races, places and faces.
There is no shortage of material to work with given the long history of cycling. I’m sure I could spend a lifetime creating work based on the Tour de France alone! With all the great routes, cities and towns the TdF will always be an inspiration for me. Alpe d’Huez, Tourmalet, Ventoux, Paris – volumes have been written about each. Along with the great photography available I’ll never run out of source material to fuel my passion for Cycling Art.
It’s not just the tour either. The Giro d’Italia, Vuelta, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Amstel Gold, Paris-Nice, Liége-Bastogne-Liége, the list of iconic cycling races is endless. It’s almost overwhelming for me at times as to which way to point my pen.
So if all of that isn’t enough inspiration, bicycle racing has always been filled with larger than life characters to inspire me. Gino Bartali, Eddy Merckx – The Badger, The Shark, The Manx Missile, El Pistolero, Sagan! The list of great riders is as long as the road to Paris.
Finding inspiration isn’t difficult, finding the time to explore all these roads is my biggest challenge. But that’s my job and as my friend Keith said to me “Somebody has to draw all these damn pictures…might as well be you.”
It would be amazing if you can follow me and tell your friends I’ll be posting on Twitter @theveloist, Facebook /theveloist, Instagram @veloist and maybe Strava MichaelVALENTI (mostly so you can see where I am).
Until the next update – be well, and ride safe.
Michael
If you’d like more information on participating in sponsorship of the first ever 21 Days of Cycling Art please just drop me a note CONTACT MICHAEL
