Cheasapeake and Ohio Allegheny

Here is another 18" X 24" pencil drawing in progress of two Cheasapeake and Ohio Railroad H-8 Allegheny type steam locomotives side by side at the coaling tower in Hadley, West Virginia. This shows my technique in pencil drawings. I start by lightly sketching the elements in the scene, placing them where I am satisfied with them. Then I start in the top most left-hand corner and working in about a 3" wide swath I shade the drawing in from top to bottom and then move slightly to the right (I'm right handed) and do the same at the top of the drawing. I work from top-to-bottom, left-to-right as I go across the whole drawing. I try to avoid using any straight edges or rulers for my straight lines, and I draw round shapes completely by eye, no protractors. When I get to the rightmost border edge and shade down to the bottom right, I have completed the drawing. As can be seen here, I have a long way to go with this one.

Centuries passing in the night.

This is the first oil painting of this size and scope that I have done in a long time. It is 18" X 24" oil on canvas. This is a commission for someone who wanted to see a NEW YORK CENTRAL J-3 class Hudson steam locomotive speeding through the Hudson River Valley in New York state at night with the New York City-to-Chicago '20TH CENTURY LIMITED' express train as it passes the eastbound Chicago-to-New York City '20TH CENTURY LIMITED'. This scene takes place in the 1930's. This is the underpainting, and I will add more elements and details as the layers of oil paint dry, and as time will permit.