A few weeks before painting this piece I had completed an afternoon preparatory pencil study of this general view and then set it aside for awhile (you can see this pencil study in the Drawing section of this website). At the time I was undecided on how I might want to approach doing a painting of this cityscape setting, and was mulling over ideas like the composition, the time of day, etc. I finally decided I would opt for doing a small painting and work with the colors of warm morning light; and with those thoughts in mind I gathered my tools and set out my gear the evening before. However, as so often happens, my available time to paint had arrived, but so too had an unexpected change of events, in this case it was a fog that blanketed the area before sunrise, and as it turned out remained until shortly before lunch time.
I went to the location at North 12th Street here in town, and after seeing the depot and rail area wrapped in a very slowly thinning fog I proceeded with starting the painting and took advantage of the fact that the weather conditions would cause the colors, values, and light conditions to remain fairly constant the entire time I had planned to work. I unexpectedly had plenty of time to block-in my initial sketch on the canvas, make adjustments and begin painting. As it was, except for a slightly cool dampness to the air, I had a nice morning of painting.
In part, this view brought back memories of my youth. My parents property was bordered on the east boundary by the single set of Central New York rail line tracks that ran through our village. I don’t think of myself as a railroad and train enthusiast, but when growing up, my friends and I spent many hours of play in walking and running on the steel rails like pretend circus tightrope artists while trying to out do each other to see how far or fast we could go before loosing our balance and needing to step down onto the wooden ties; we explored the inside of open box cars or the abandoned depot and nearby feedmill and lands along the tracks; sometimes we hiked the distances between adjacent villages and ate the wild raspberries and black caps along the way that grew in thick profusion each summer; on occasion we sacrificed our penny candy money of pennies and nickels by leaving them on the steel rails to be flattened by the passing locomotives; while keeping watch for trains we fished from the trestle bridges above the local streams or Unadilla River; or sat wide eyed on the dirt embankments under the river spanning trestles as we looked up and watched the underside of the trains as they rolled along just a few feet above our heads…
When I began the painting, I had in mind using the old historic Pennsylvania Railroad Station depot (1902) and buildings to the left as a primary focal point and the distant roadway overpass and the mill as other objects to show distance and support the overall design. But just before I was finished painting, an east bound Norfolk and Southern locomotive with box cars came rolling slowly toward me and changed my plans. I waited as it went past and blocked my view of the buildings, then I continued painting until I heard another train coming a short while later. At that point I set down my brushes, picked up my pencil and sketch pad and made a couple of quick rough thumbnail sketches of the train as it approached. With this information, I was better able to use my paint brush to sketch the general outline and proportions of the departed locomotive and train cars into the setting, and then later in my studio make corrective adjustments to the perspective and the atmospheric conditions that obscured the locomotive and trailing box cars.
Note: It pleases me to share that this painting was accepted into the 116th Annual Exhibition of the Richmond Art Museum, IN., and was selected for the “Tom and Sheryl Alberts Purchase Award.” This annual juried art competition, which accepts works from artists within a 125 mile radius from Richmond, is the oldest in the state of Indiana.