A newly completed painting from the days when rail travel was done in style. Technical information follows for those interested in such matters.
Five of Sir Nigel Gresley’s finest, in steam and poised for High Speed action, seen here in the full glory of their pre-war condition London and North Eastern Railway condition. For the eagle eyed amongst you, one of these is not an A4…
The Triang Princess was the first locomotive in their range, an existing model they purchased from Rovex that became the foundation of their entire range. It was first produced in British Railways unlined black with a pair of rather ‘distinctive’ LMS coaches. It would be soiled under a range of names and numbers from the end of the forties ’til the mid-seventies.
This set of drawings re-imagines these classic toys as real-world locomotives.
I have completed this set of drawings to represent all those liveries and also a couple of ‘neverwassas’, the sort of livery with which a modeller of the time might have adorned their model.
Midland Railway ‘800 Class’ Kirtley 2-4-0 No.59, leaving St Pancras Station early in the 20th century. The ‘800’ class were built as express passenger locomotives in the 1870’s, but were still running on lesser passenger services into the 1920s. Though slightly rebuilt they remained elegant locomotives and examples of the care and attention that Edwardian times lavished on rolling stock and locomotives even when they were used on more mundane workaday services. Would that we could get that sort of care and pride back!
This is a digital oil painting executed in Procreate running on an iPd Pro. An interesting feature of the app is that it reports some basic statistics for each painting. In this case I’m told, slightly alarmingly, that the painting to a little over 45,000 brush strokes with the Apple Pencil and a little over 32 hours active painting time.
Some progress has been made…
A Great Western (UK) Atlantic, in full Edwardian livery, inspired by a vintage photograph. I’ve finished her as No.191 “Atlantic”, one of the proposed identities for No.2999 Lady of Quality, the new build ‘Saint’ class, in the event she’s run as an Atlantic.
I used a slightly different technique this time – it’s sort of digital multimedia, a pencil draweing tinted with watercolours and highlights done in pastel.
Pastel painting, done digitally. The Euston Arch, the original main entrance to the London & Birmingham Railway’s Euston Station, sadly demolished in a bit of 1960s architectural vandalism. This is based on late 19th century photographs.
This is Surrey Chambers, on the corner of St Geoprges Terrace and Howard Street. Another one of Perth’s beautiful lost buildings, though I think this one was significantly damaged in the Meckering earthquake. My second Perth Heritage painting, this time in (digital) pencil and wash. Based on a photograph that showed the building not long after completion.
I call this one “Through the Wall”. A Stanier Black Five 4-6-0 makes its way through the purpose made arch in the medieval town walls of Conway (nowadays called Conwy) in the early 1960s. To me, scenes like this capture the spirit of the dying days of the working national steam railway.
Through the Wall 0 1 0 Published: April 28th 2021
