Transcript
[0:00] Until you value your own work you're never going to find the client that values enough to help you grow in your business,
There's just no way so I've learned to value my work price my work and my time accordingly so that that way I can provide really high-quality great service to the people that hire me.
You're listening to Femcanic Garage the podcast that features women in the automotive and Motorsports Industries a community that elevates empowers
and evolves by smashing stereotypes and breaking down barriers for women I'm your host Jayme Blasiman buckle up for the ride Femcanics.
[0:40] Music.
[0:52] Femcanics I want to hear from you and get your feedback text me what your favorite episode is how I could improve the podcast.
[1:02] Products would you like to see but most importantly I just want to connect with you.
Text me at six one four nine five three six three eight zero again that's 614.
953 6380 I receive each message directly and I'm excited to hear from you.
Go on press pause and save my number six one four nine five three six three eight zero.
[1:36] Kate Cook is in the driver's seat today she's the artist and owner of asphalt canvas custom art LLC.
She creates custom art inspired by her clients ideas in automotive enamels ink and watercolors and graphite.
She was born into a family who enjoyed cross country road trips restoring muscle cars and all things Americana.
Sit back and enjoy the ride.
[2:08] Hello femcanics this is Jayme B coming to you and I have Kate Cook in the driver's seat today how are you doing today Kate?
[2:16] I'm great thank you for having me on it is my pleasure I've been like drooling over your work and everything that you do for over a year now it's crazy to me where I look back and I'm like,
holy crap I've been doing this Femcanic thing for a year and a half now and I just.
Something triggered me and I'm like when I just asked her if she would be on the show and you graciously accepted so thank you.
For sure I can Mike I'm excited to be in the lineup of all the other women that you've had on this show it's so cool.
Well you represent what Femcanic Garage is all about so thank you for representing women.
In the industry with such class and Grace and that's that's what it's really about so thank you for being you.
[3:02] Oh absolutely I am curious and I always ask this question because it just fascinates me.
You're an artist and you know folks got to hear a little bit about your background already but.
How would you define your artwork,
that's a great question I actually had an issue when I first started as to how to define my own artwork but once I started my business and I realized that I was
doing an equal balance of work between the automotive industry and the Fine Art industry as far as like custom portraits and book illustrations
mixed with like pinstriping and rap thinks my husband actually coined this term and I don't know if it's already been out there before but he says that my artwork is,
quote unquote pinstripe illustration so that term was kind of born a couple years ago and I've just run with that because it seems to really like resonate with a lot of people in the two different genres that I work.
Who I love it and and you can cover quite the plethora of subject matter really I mean some people focus on one subject matter but.
[4:12] You kind of sprinkle yourself around a little bit I mean you definitely have your go twos but you try different things,
yeah definitely a lot of the work that I'm most proud of actually stems from an idea that a client had I really hold my clients and their ideas in high regard because a lot of them.
Come to me with such creative and unique concepts for custom art whether it be like a really cool lettering job with the caricature of some kind on a motorcycle tank or,
you know this book illustration job that you know with a story that goes with it that they've may have worked on for years,
so I've just really really held their ideas in high regard because some of my best most creative work as come from those and working with the client to kind of finalize,
and get that idea into fine art or custom art in general I'm curious and I guess to backpedal slightly.
Lot of your subject matter and what kind of Drew me to you is the automotive subject matter it fascinated me rat fink seems definitely.
A staple in the automotive industry yes but I know when we talked you said I've always liked art.
You've definitely been inspired by the creativity around your mother.
But why Automotive a lot of your content is around Automotive other topics as well and subject matter but.
[5:36] I've noticed a lot of Automotive pieces what about that.
Yes definitely Automotive related so like we were speaking earlier I'm definitely an old soul and I feel like,
all of the times I was you know born in the wrong era and I felt like that ever since high school I've always enjoyed vintage
styled artwork and advertisements I absolutely love like World War II nose art like pinup and.
Being from a hot rod family already somewhat family that grew up in that scene car shows and things like that.
That's really what drew me into just an admiring that artwork but I already had the skill of being able to draw things so I was like how can I,
combine the two and then how can I make a living at it and for a long time I couldn't get that overlap but what drew me to it was a show that I went to.
[6:30] Initially it's called Mopars in May in California because that's where I'm from and there was an artist they're doing some live airbrushing which I do airbrush yet but eventually I'd like to try that,
but he saw that I was like this young teenage girl that was like probably drooling over this airbrushing job that he was working on it was on this big orange candy
hood and he offered to let me just kind of mess around with the airbrush and try some stenciling with blames and that was the first like kind of aha moment I had where I could,
combine like my love for the automotive artwork that I had seen my whole life and advertising and things like that,
and also my skill as an artist because at the time I was already you know excelling in my high school art class and middle school I like to put the top
of the top classes after my teacher was like Hey this this chick needs to be in a different class because she's just like sitting here bored in the beginning class,
so yeah I think you know it definitely started as a young age and I was drawn to it based off like my family's interest and
and also with the nose are it's like my dad was in the Air Force so I remember vividly we had a coffee table like Noah's Ark,
on an old vintage airplanes and bombers and I would always select skims through that when I was sketching in my Sketchbook as a teenager and like kind of copy those Pinups and different characters that they would pay on those
planes and of course my dad being an Air Force was always like super cool and stoked with whatever I drew even if it wasn't that great.
[7:55] So yeah it's just kind of a culmination of all of those different things that kind of literally laid in my path and to what I do now as an artist in the automotive field.
Just to make sure I'm making an assumption here but when you say nose art to kind of bring the listeners along and myself,
yeah the nose of airplanes is where it's painted is it that simple it's just that some following World War II they would,
kind of document their name of the plane or like famous pin-up girl or even like a character,
for instance like my Dad's plan that he worked on an Air Force even in modern day had Marvin the Martian like hand painted on the nose of,
kc-135 bomber and so I got to see that in real life like see it painted up on this massive plane that the United States military use them like well
there's another you know ART versus machine type of correlation so it's just that's just a simple set.
[8:53] That is way cool have you had an opportunity to,
paint an airplane like any of the characters or anything I would absolutely love the opportunity to paint a true airplane but I haven't yet that would definitely be like a total bucket list thing.
But definitely I have used you know inspiration from nose art and I mean in so much of my work like all of my pinup work stems from nose art and up girls,
that were painted on planes back in World War 2.
My lettering and stuff that lettering I enjoy is all kind of like that military scripty kind of like half done on the flight line type knows are so,
yeah that's something I really I think is really cool,
maybe maybe you can drop a hint to your dad to connect you with someone to have a conversation already yeah I'm gonna have an opportunity for a show a couple years back in Florida.
That was going to that was going to be one of their big deals as have like all these artists coming paint on this vintage plane and I literally like I didn't care about any other thing that was coming with that show I was like whatever day that is I want to be there.
Wow wow so I guess we say Automotive but it's machine.
[10:11] Yeah it's almost like this draw to the softness of your artwork.
Kind of clashing with the machine and the hardness of the machine I love that you say that actually that's exactly how I look at my work in fact my senior show out of college was entitled speed versus Beauty,
and the whole theme around that was taking like a feminine outlook on a masculine machine so like I was doing like pin-up girl versus,
motor and then I it kind of as I was working in that field I've kind of started seeing like,
WoW instead of doing pin-up girl like instead of just doing this iconic image of calendar girl I can actually do.
[10:53] A female mechanic working on like a vintage dragster or driving a big vintage Dragster and what a juxtaposition that really is and that was really before,
you know the whole this whole scene got really big as far as like women in automotive industry being highlighted,
so that was really fun to work with and I ended up finding a bunch of old old school women that like for the true we can do it girls and I use a lot of.
Time photos of Time magazine photos as inspiration of the actual Rosie the riveters of all different race and religion working on you know planes or vintage Jeeps you know further the war efforts and.
That really kind of Drew that show all together and I already started working on another series called she's been everywhere man that kind of has that same.
[11:43] Same ideology but a little bit less a little bit less mechanic in a little bit more like travel inspired so yeah.
[11:52] Purely out of curiosity because I'm getting educated around.
[11:59] I guess proper etiquette you and me both I mean I don't know any other way of putting it because the reality is I think.
[12:08] It's not as common for people to go and commissioned artwork.
Right they'll go to the store and buy something right so it's a different experience so I don't feel like the average person knows what that process is really like so when I'm asking this it's really.
Educate me so I'm not ignorant here Kate no problem when you talked about your show in your senior year.
I'm making an assumption here that those pieces where they paintings yeah they were painting and mixed-media yes.
Okay you sold those from that show correct yes got it so like I am.
[12:51] It's kind of a funky situation I have because my business is based around commissioned artwork so everything I everything you see on my Instagram for the most part is a custom piece of art work for somebody or a business of some sort.
But before shows like that one where it was a solo exhibition and the one that I'm working on kind of behind the scenes that she's been Everywhere Man series those are pieces that I've done kind of on my own time,
kind of from my own brain things that I've sketched out over time and travels and ideas that I've had you know,
brewing for a long time that as soon as I get the chance when I'm you know customer work is done I'm.
Knee-deep in trying to figure out different types of series and gallery showings and where can I submit my artwork so that I can have it put in a gallery and all these different things that are more on a personal level rather than a custom Commission.
Artwork level you don't happen to have any like pictures from,
that senior exhibition for your future yes I have a bunch of them and at that time I was like immersed and in,
just a really strong community of artists of all different kinds and I was taking all kinds of different art classes so the work that stemmed from that show kind of.
[14:06] Looks a little bit different than what I'm working on and what I have worked on now here in my current,
situation with my business and everything so I look back at those pieces and I'm like how cool is that I mean there's not a single.
Pinstriping they're like the pinstriping that was in that show was actually done in acrylic paint which is anybody listening knows pinstriping it's normally done and like animals.
And so I didn't even know what pinstriping the art of pinstriping or lettering truly was and like type of brushes and the type of paint,
I didn't really know any of that until after I graduated college so my whole senior show was kind of like around this really cool.
Iconic idea of like this Americana.
[14:48] You know hot rod scene but I didn't even know what tools do you use that we're actually like happening and that scene so and this was all before social media so I think that social media really helped Force,
me kind of Bloom in that awesome,
would you be willing to share some of those pictures from that senior well I don't know if it's a project it kind of sounds like it was a proud yeah it was a project would you be willing to share some of those pictures with the Femcanic community
oh absolutely I would love to I would love I would love to see him because it just the theme of it fast that's me
so I'll just kind of explain a couple of them because I get super excited I kept one of the I had sculptures as well.
Within that series and I got these Hemi Pistons from the junkyard here in town and they were like rusted out and all nasty and.
[15:40] They actually kind of like had a green tint to them and I took my own hands and I made plaster molds of them with like all my rings and jewelry on.
And.
And then faux painted the plaster of Paris sculpture of my own hand holding a true spark plug and attach that to the arm of the piston.
And so it was like this really cool like mix of life this really heavy piston which was the base of the sculpture and then the Piston arm,
came up in the hand attached to that and it looked like this one singular form and it was just really cool that,
sound so bad a soda and it was so much fun to make oh my goodness like I'm listening to you describe this Kate and I'm like.
[16:27] Giddy I'm like I want to see it in and just out of curiosity when I hear you explaining this would you say this was your first kind of
Big Show where you had the whole Space absolutely it was absolutely my first big gallery show now I had done a lot of shows in my high school career with a community called The Mountain Arts Network in Lake Arrowhead California,
and they really like gave me a lot of confidence and courage to like so my little pen and ink drawings in this large art setting which was an art show setting but it you know I only had like six or seven pieces and there was a bunch of other artists also exhibiting.
But with this show it was with my speed versus Beauty show out of college it was a literal senior it was what I needed to do to graduate so
I put like so much work and effort into it and it was me and three other girls that each had our own senior exhibition during that time,
oh wow yeah yeah I would love to see.
Kate in her early years I did before she even figured out which tools yes I forgot it's and what that looks like,
because I see what you do now and that content is absolutely fascinating to me in to see your work then in,
be able to look at what you're doing now and it's inspiring but I'm curious the people that bought that.
Bought your artwork from your senior project with that content where they majority male or female.
[17:57] Oh that's a really interesting question actually it was a good 50/50 and and,
I made some prints off of the stuff but at the time I had no idea what I was doing so I did sell some prints and those image orally to males for just because they were more like garage poster art style but that were actual artwork,
it was a good mix of like and actually quite surprising of some of the clients that,
I ended up buying the artwork off of off of that show and if I'm being truthful and honest I that show actually was up for I think a month
and and it didn't sell anything like there was no artwork that soul and I actually took those pieces with me.
To the Lonestar Roundup in Austin Texas which is a massive like Kustom kulture car show,
and I sold my thing there and then I took them to a couple other different smaller venues and I sold nothing there as well so,
I spent a really long time finding my client
and finding my customer and it was a lot of like massive fails like for instance the Austin show I spent so much money and time.
It's like put this massive show together it was basically a replication of what my senior show was but with a tent in outside.
[19:13] Yeah and so until I really started like going to the car shows going to the different like barber shops and coffee shops in town and asking them if they would display my artwork for me,
I didn't sell anything so my first sale from that show came like two years after the actual exhibition and it was my highest
Crossing sale I've ever made up until that point.
[19:35] And it was really cool because the guy that bought it was a group of gentlemen that were the best man.
For a guy's wedding and the painting itself was hanging in a barbecue shop of all places I just was hanging my artwork wherever it would get eyes.
And I had this old like Coop door that was all rusted out.
And I did some acrylic acrylic pinstriping on it and then in the window of the door,
was a piece of canvas that I had painted a pin-up girls face and she was shifting like in like a lowrider Rat Rod style shifter that's really tall,
and I called it Milner's match like from American Graffiti the handsomest,
yeah it was a blast of paint and I didn't want to let it go so I priced it ridiculous and this guy came to me he's like hey me and my buddies went to buy this because my our best friends getting married and we want it to be his
you know grooms gift or whatever and so I was like oh my gosh this kind of come at a better time yes you can have it and this guy I guess like I idolized it for such a long time and,
so it was his way of finally you know making being able to sell it was just a really cool feeling.
Wow and here you thought you were pricing it so high so that you could keep it longer man that has happened more than once to in my career like I'm just gonna price it you know press this ridiculous and.
I'm literally every time everyone's like okay sounds great and I'm like white what you're like oh yeah I knew that yeah exactly it's like always shocking to me but I guess it's just.
[21:04] It's a game of humility oh man yeah I am way excited to see those pieces and see what that's all about,
that's that's way cool.
[21:17] I want to go back so before you even got the college you graduated high school and you always knew you wanted to go that route.
Or did it just kind of find you know I honestly think I've always known that being an artist was my,
that's what I knew I was going to do there was a time in my high school career although throughout that I knew I was a fairly good artist and my parents were very encouraging.
[21:45] In that way I also danced.
[21:49] Ballet for like 15 or 16 years and for quite a while I was that was my entire life and art kind of took a back burner and until,
it wasn't until like my junior year of high school,
but my dad kind of was had this heart-to-heart with me I'll never forget it because it was like The Nutcracker ballet that we did every year and we would audition and try out and that was our community our companies,
performance that we did every year and he was like you're not going to get to play Clara every year like that's not going to make the money and so he was like you're a great artist,
and I he's like I really just think that there's money in that and he kind of put.
[22:28] You know kind of just gave me like an eye-opener and I at the time I was devastating because I really thought I was going to go to school for professional ballet and.
Make that my career and if it wasn't for my dad and my mom just kind of like,
you know saying like hey there's a short you know there's a short shelf life with that and it's a pretty high high end,
thing to get into and you're super tall so you're not always going to get the gig and,
you know they had have a really tough talk with me and and that's when I really finally made my mind up to be like okay I'm going to go to college for art that's that's a good career you know I was always thinking oh I can get a career that's artistic,
I never really imagined the opportunity I could have to actually own my own studio and like make my own artwork and do all what I'm doing now I never thought that was possible but the artistic career and the degree.
[23:20] Was always there after that conversation that was always that kind of started to drive me in that direction what was that like for you because I'm looking at the position.
[23:30] The parents position right because I can straddle both sides of the fence Kate because I'm yes you know I kind of went through that and it was,
my grandpa was that person for me where it's with a loving gentle hand yes.
Definitely gently smack me across the face not literally but you know what I mean like the wake-up call you know but it's like
only he could do that only him and my grandma could do that but no one else could yeah right and it sounds like that's you know for you it was your folks
that does it for you.
But it's still hard right like oh yeah like for you like receiving that did it take you a few months to kind of let it sink in,
yeah oh absolutely it did actually I was right but it was right before our,
nutcracker for performance can't remember what year it was but I guess I was like my junior year.
[24:28] And yeah it took I wasn't a dramatic teenager like I was pretty mature for my age my brother and I both are pretty mature for our age in high school so like when they said that it wasn't like a,
yeah right type of a situation it was like okay Mom and Dad know what they're talking about and,
you know I I just took it and I kind of mold it over for a while and then I think what really like solidified my.
Final like okay this is what is going to happen because yeah it was definitely tough at first because I was a teenager I was like in dance and ballet it was like my whole life like when I say my whole life I'm talking like I lived,
and ate and slept at the dance studio like I was in the best shape of my life I had you know everything I was on scholarship there dancing with the company and.
It was it was my life and so it was hard to hear like hey this may not be a long-term deal you know but the thing that solidified it for me was.
In the same year my mom had seen somewhere in the newspaper like I said before social media that is like somewhere in the newspaper or posting up in our grocery store of a author that was looking to hire an illustrator.
[25:38] And I had been always wanting to work Adco has kind of been working for somebody as far as like a piece of artwork that they wanted done like a small portrait or Commission of some kind,
artistically throughout my entire High School career for this job my mom brought it to me after school one day.
And she was like hey there's this local author and she's written this children's book and I think you should apply and I like,
I definitely was like shocked I was like there's no way like there aren't going up against like full-time Real Deal illustrators that's not going to happen I'm still in high school.
[26:14] And then long story short I my mom had it like drag me to this interview with this author because I just was so doubtful I was so doubtful in myself that that was going to that something would ever come of that and lo and behold I actually got that job.
And that book those illustrations I did all of the book illustrations in the cover art for a book called The Legend of Douglas fir,
which is a children's Christmas book and the sales from that book a portion of them actually help me buy my first car and also help me attend my first year of college.
So it was insane to like.
Have that all it we ended up translating it into Spanish and my high school art teacher translated that into Spanish for us so that we could print it in a second language.
And what they were talking like this was just like a small town author and this family story that she had and I did all the illustrations actually while we were evacuated for a massive forest fire that was like,
that pretty much took out our entire town and I did them like it at my grandparents house for two months while we were evacuated so it was a lot going on at that time but those illustrations really are what like showed me,
in my path like you can make money at this and up until that point I wasn't really sure so I'm really thankful for that book and I still have it here on displayed in my studio as just a reminder to just do it and don't let doubt like.
[27:39] Make up your mind for you as hard as that is to do it's easy to say I'm just sitting there thinking like.
[27:46] What you are probably 16 17 years old oh yeah there's a lot of embarrassing pictures of me scientific doing book signings like no necklaces and like crocheted beanies and I'm like oh my gosh why didn't I try harder.
That's awesome yeah I'm sitting there thinking about myself at 16 years old if 17 years old and trying to put myself in your shoes and.
[28:17] Kind of getting drug to this interview yes and.
Trying to do your best but part of you didn't want to be there.
Yeah because you doubted it yeah and it was my mom saying like oh you got that you know like every teenagers like oh come on Mom you know a little bit right you're supposed to say that you're my mom yeah right right in,
would you get a phone call after that how did that work you know I so bad I don't remember I think it was actually an email saying that I was accepted for the job and and if I'm being truthful with myself it was probably more a.
[28:57] Pricing thing for her because I know you know I was in high school so I had set I put this like quote packet together which was something I've never done before I like remember going online and like researching that asking my art teacher and stuff,
I put this quote packet together like what I thought this my work and my artwork was going to be worth saw her.
And yeah I'm pretty sure it was through email that she was like hey.
You know I want to let you know that I'm going to work with you and so we work together if I think it was like seven months and I did like 18 full-blown full color illustrations.
And at the time that really fed my desire to want to go to college as a storyboard artist through Disney and and so I was like man if.
[29:40] If I can do this if I can take an author story and turn it into visual artwork there's no reason why I can't take a directors movie story and turn it into a visual storyboard to like,
helps the movie cast and crew like actually film this movie or animate this movie I wanted to do it something by hand and so that was my only out that I saw,
as far as as far as a full-blown artistic career was working for Disney,
and I actually applied for Disney out of college like twice both times it was extremely expensive because you had to send a full-blown hard copy portfolio,
of all your printed work and it was crazy it was and I thought I got declined both times and I still have those letters as well because they had a.
You know Disney on them and I was like oh this is so cool I know I didn't get accepted but how cool is it that I actually tried absolutely motivation but I'm curious,
Kate do you recall what you felt or what that experience was like when you finally like oh my gosh I was I know I was like extremely shocked.
Then I got super like freaked out because I didn't.
[30:50] Like I had like had lofty ideas of like what it would be like but I actually didn't like sit down and be like here's my timeline at and I'm going to get this artwork,
you know busted out in this timeline because I was now working for somebody on their timeline it wasn't my timeline and as much as I saw you know in the movies and everything and,
all the things that you like seeing idolized as a kid I was like no I have to actually do this and like how am I going to organize my schedule as a high school kid that had you know I still dancing in ballet and I had this amazing,
project car my 66 Jeeps or that I was working on which took a huge portion of my time and money and,
I think that's actually what drove me to think on on target with this this first job because this was my first this was the first biggest job I had,
at that age and so and I knew that there was potential for financial benefit that could you know help me build my Jeep stirs as like silly as that sound but like I was just the high school girl like wanting to drive this.
Awesome Jeepster around my high school so that you're not silly at all my friend not silly at all man yeah so that was my driving force and then you know come to find out it also paid for like.
[32:07] College and I have this all this knowledge from doing that so I could do it again and maybe publish my own book in the future just gave me so much and I'm just so glad that that was the first the first thing that really,
it solidified my idea of being an artist,
and doing it as a career so you brought up the Jeepster and I if you were if you aren't going to bring it up I certainly was
because the thing is your subject matter.
[32:32] A lot of your subject matter is Automotive related but you turn a wrench as well yeah yeah I cannot,
share about this awesome Jeepster it's and you shared a little bit but yeah bought it when you were in high school yes yes oh I bought my Jeepster,
in high school with my own money and then my parents match what year is it it's a 1966 Jeepster Commando with the 225 odd fire V6.
[33:03] And.
The whole purpose around that car actually was that my dad we lived in the mountains in California so my dad told me like you can buy whatever car you want but there's you know here's the rules it has to be four-wheel drive,
because we lived in the smell and whatever you say for it will match and that's your budget so I save like crazy,
and at the time I was going high school there was this I think he's a football player or something but I was so obsessed with this like old rusty red Jeepster Commando that he drove to school everyday,
I don't even think he had a hard talk or any sort of top on it at all mind you we went to school where it snowed so I think he eventually got like a black soft top for it but I was like okay
that is a old school Jeep it's four-wheel drive I could probably afford it if I got kind of a you know more of a low-key one that wasn't all fully restored
and so that's what we ended up looking for and man we looked at we looked at so many jeeps and and also.
[34:02] Just so everyone knows like I had no idea how to work on cars at all like I enjoyed going to car shows and I liked that scene but I couldn't even change like my own Tire or my own oil at this point and I didn't know how to drive stick shift.
[34:14] So long story short again we found a we found a Jeepster I think it was in Barstow California,
and it was in my budget it had bent body hadn't been all hacked up because I'm a visual person so like a lot of people take juicers and like Jack them up for like,
like severe off-road like Mojave Desert Moab kind of stuff and I wanted that original,
old school beach cruiser look because I was a beach girl on a beach girl at heart I love being at the beach and so I was like I didn't really want to be stock but I didn't want it to be super lifted either,
I want it to be a good Cruiser and a good like off-roader but nothing too crazy so we found this one in Barstow I ended up paying.
Cash for it it had like these rotted out nasty old RV tires and it was a stick shift 3 speed.
And so my dad drove it home with me in the passenger seat and I was of course on cloud nine and the first thing we did was change the oil.
And he showed me like all the ins and outs and what to look for and everything and he said now Lander the car and take the.
You know take take down the bowl and bag oil should come out into this can and I said okay so I did all that and I waited there and like no oil came out and we had driven like 2 hours home.
And I was like okay maybe I must have done something wrong but the plug was out so I told him.
[35:36] The called the pan and like come to find out like the whole engine had been rebuilt but had been rebuilt backwards and so
all the rods that were supposed to be on one side we're on the other and oh my God it was a freaking nightmare of course I didn't know what I was looking at my dad was like over there sweating bullets that we just bought this like car that is kind of a hoopty now I just want to pause for a moment
everything was backwards yeah that's the first I've heard a lot of things and the first oh yes if I could like.
[36:08] I'm telling you the 225 odd fire like that engine.
It can go through hell and back and still run like a champ I mean if you were to listen to this engine at the time like you could not tell that there was something wrong that's why it was so surprising to us that this was all done and then.
Like come to find out when we check the oil the little stopper on the oil stop.
No welded little cap that keeps it like on the Block like at a certain height head like that well broke so that the stick went all the way down to the very bottom of the motor so it looked like it had oil.
But since that stopper had broke off the well broke off it actually had like I think less than a quart I'm God so that kind of started the whole of course at first it was like devastating.
And then my dad's like kind of a can-do guy and can-do spirit he's like hey we're going to we're going to learn how to rebuild an engine today and we're going to learn how to
we're going to do all this stuff like we're going to do a spring under conversion if we're gonna do a steering conversion and all the brisk it's just amazing how much I learned.
And I couldn't have done it without him or my brother and my mom's willingness to allow that but yeah that's what I did.
There are so many stories I hear about child and parent most of the time it's Dad's but child.
[37:36] In some of the best memories are when they worked on a car fill in the blank of whatever car that is together.
Oh for sure for sure wow yeah I think that a lot of the awkward like Teenage conversations that happen like.
You know around like a dinner table I think that they they were a lot less awkward when like we literally weren't looking at each other and we were on two opposite ends of the car and.
[38:04] You know he asked me like so is so and so your boyfriend now.
And like we're not looking at each other and it's like super dark and we're freezing outside because we built this Jeep in the driveway of like a one-car garage.
And you know I'd answer like,
yeah is that okay you know and it was just like way less Ranch slips and crushes knuckle yes exactly so I have this really really fond,
rolling fond memories of that jeep and and I still have it today and it needs a little love I have needs a little bit of love I've been focused so much on my business and then I actually injured my my arm and my hands so driving stick shift,
is was impossible for me for the last couple months but that was a whole another thing is that I had to learn how to drive stick shift so once the car was built then I had to learn how to drive it.
Wait hold up hold up you said that in passing you said you injured your arm and hand in your an artist so I'm in my mind I'm like
how does that work oh it doesn't it doesn't at all does that mean you have to like pause would like your work is it your yeah it's my dominant painting hands okay,
I'm like there's a writing hand or you write it and I don't know,
I try not to like talk about it but yeah we I pinched a nerve in my neck which cause like my arm and my hand I just have like,
just literally like be paralyzed in pain like it was some of the worst pain I've ever been through so as if 20/20 wasn't like crazy and bad enough like I had to take a couple months off work and.
[39:28] Literally sit and do nothing which for somebody that is so like focused and driven it was so challenging you can ask my husband.
[39:37] He's like we gotta get you back to work you're driving me crazy yes so I'm on the mend now and so that's good but it was definitely gonna fucking drama Jeepster couldn't paint draw it was even working on the computer like for marketing and stuff was not
recommended by my doctor so it was kind of just sitting and staring at a wall and thinking about how thankful I am that I.
Don't have coronavirus or anything worse mmm absolutely now we had talked about something that always fascinates me.
I am a Serial entrepreneur I love being an entrepreneur I love everything about it.