Santa Fe No. 543 at the Illinois Railway Museum

Santa Fe No. 543 at IRM, 9 x 10 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

I painted this locomotive on static display outdoors at the Illinois Railway Museum.  Some rail fans like to see equipment portrayed all new and shiny-looking like it just rolled out of the factory.  For them I suggest that in an archive someplace there is a photograph of this locomotive taken the day it first rolled out of the factory.  If that's what they want, they should acquire a print of it and hang it on their wall.   As for myself, I'm an artist-- I paint what I see for the most part.  I like to paint old trains.  I find them all interesting: meticulously restored, not so restored, or rusting and abandoned out in the weather.  If I see rust, I paint rust.  If I see broken windows patched with plywood, that's what I paint.

I'll  confess there are a few artistic liberties I might take to improve a painting.   At IRM they use day-glow orange flexible plastic fencing to keep kids from climbing on the trains.  It doesn't bother me that they do that, but I never include that stuff in my art.  Nor do I depict the big white signage that identifies and describes the history of the various locomotives and rolling stock on display.  I usually paint locomotives in the setting where I found them, as is the case with No. 543.   Sometimes, however, if I feel an engine will look better silhouetted against foliage and sky rather than the big dark locomotive that was really behind it, I will make that change.  Trains are movable, after all, and can and do move around the Railway Museum's compound.  And more than once I have painted the old sand tower into a painting to add visual interest although it really wasn't visible from where the rest of the painting was made. 

Scrap Yard at the Illinois Railway Museum

Railroad Scrap Yard, 10 x 6.5 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

I found this old cut-off locomotive cab rusting in a scrapyard behind a maintenance building at the Illinois Railway Museum.  I drew this view of it silhouetted against a white parked truck trailer.

My Painting in the American Society of Railway Artists Exhibition at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas Nevada September 30, 2016 through January 8, 2017

Santa Fe No. 92, 15 x 11 inch ink and watercolor painting by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

My painting of Santa Fe No. 92 in "warbonnet" paint on display at the Illinois Railway museum  is included in the newest annual exhibition of the American Society of Railway Artists held this year at the Big Springs Gallery at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The exhibition will be open every day September 30 to January 8, 2017 from 10:00am to 6:00pm.  There is an admission fee for the Springs Preserve, a 180 acre site which contains the Nevada State Museum, the Origen Museum (of Natural History), a Botanical Garden, hiking trails and other attractions.

Engine Shed

Engine Shed,  8 x 11 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

At the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois, they keep engines and rolling stock that have been restored or are candidates for restoration in very large metal sheds to protect them from the weather.  Visitors can see them from walkways between the rails.  The sheds are lit by skylights and electric lights, but they are still pretty dark.  As a railfan I enjoy seeing these indoor collections and am glad they are being preserved, but as an artist I usually find the indoor displays a little too dark and claustrophobic to paint.  However, one day I found this Tuskegee Railroad locomotive silhouetted against the open shed doors because the locomotive normally parked behind it was out giving rides.  I made an ink drawing in my sketchbook and took some photos too.  Later I printed the drawing on archival watercolor paper and added the color.    

The Old Sand Tower at the Illinois Railway Museum

Old Sand Tower at the Illinois Railway Museum, 8 x 18 inch ink and watercolor painting by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

I went out to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union the last day of the season it was open this year and inked this painting on site.  I added the color later at home referring to my on-site photos.  I had brought a skinny piece of watercolor board thinking it would be perfect for a long horizontal subject like a train, but when I saw the old rusting sand tower silhouetted against the bright fall sky I decided to go vertical instead.  

A Productive Day at the Illinois Railway Museum

Chicago Streetcar Barn, Illinois Railway Museum, 14 x 10 inch watercolor by George C. Clark  AVAILABLE

In 2010, after I had been invited to create a poster and railroad prints for the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois, I was also invited to come out on a busy weekend in September to paint on site and be an event for museum visitors.  Because the trains are moved around from time to time, I went out there on a sunny day a week ahead with my camera to pick some good painting locations, both indoors and out, September weather being what it is.  The day I came to paint turned out to be really overcast and threatening to rain, so I set up in the corner of the car barn where old Chicago street cars are displayed.  That's a "Green Hornet" streamlined car from the 1940s in the foreground, a 1970s "Skokie Swift" train behind it, and an old car from the 1920s or earlier in the distance.  The overcast light was actually better for painting than it been the week before, when bright sunlight had been coming in the open doors to the left.  I finished the painting on site, then took a break for a late lunch.

Burlington Northern No. 3007, 14 x 12 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark  AVAILABLE

After lunch, although it was still overcast it hadn't actually rained, so I decided to work outdoors.  I liked the front of this locomotive, but it had looked better as a painting subject in sunlight.  I set up in front of it with a folding card table and a stool and spent about an hour and a half doing a fairly tight ink drawing on watercolor board.  The rain held off until the drawing was almost finished and I had to pack up and leave.  At home I used the photographs I had taken in sunlight as a guide when I added my watercolors.

Santa Fe No. 92 at the Illinois Railway Museum

Santa Fe No. 92, ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

A Santa Fe diesel locomotive in "warbonnet" paint on outdoor display at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.

Welcome to my Railroad Art Blog

Grand Trunk Western No. 8380, 11 x 15 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE  SOLD

Welcome to my Railroad Art Blog.  I have been painting figures and landscapes all my career, and since I have been a rail fan from childhood trains sometimes appeared in my landscapes.  In 1999 I won a commission to paint a large railroad-themed mural for a restaurant in the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio, and I decided to approach railroad art in a more serious way.  I began to visit the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois several times a year to paint on-site.  I call this series "Age of Iron."  I have exhibited paintings from it in various venues in group exhibitions or as part of one-person shows of my "Traveler's Sketchbook" series of the mostly small, mostly painted on-site watercolors I make when I travel.  You will find some examples of my railroad art on my Traveler's Sketchbook blog along with landscapes, cityscapes and other traveler's observations.

I decided to create this blog devoted exclusively to my railroad art when I recently became a founding member of the American Society of Railway Artists.  I will be posting my new railroad art here along with paintings already posted on my Traveler's Sketchbook blog and some older work created and sometimes sold before I knew I was going to do the Age of Iron series.  I hope to participate in future group and solo exhibitions devoted exclusively to railroad art.

Grand Trunk Western No. 8380 is one of my most recent railroad paintings from a visit to the Illinois Railway Museum.