Modern Power 1
This painting has been SOLD
It was started soon after Century 1, but I didn't actually get around to finishing it until at least 6 months after I started it. Sometimes paintings go through many metamorphoses before reaching their final potential. Sometimes, these changes are part of a planned process, and other times it just happens that way. This painting is a result of a combination. I found it to be a very successful painting, conceptually keeping with the others, yet containing some new ideas simultaneously. As you move through the layers, you can see how the train has endured through time. Moving from one era to the next, finally emerging as the modern steam engine you see pictured. There are 4 locomotives in addition to the class J depicted front and center. 2 of the 4 are too small to be noticed, and 1 is so faintly painted into one of the layers that it is also hard to see. Most people will only see 2.
The industrial city skyline in the background represents Roanoke Virginia of the 1950s. The locomotive is one of the famous Norfolk and Western class J locomotives, known for being among the most modern steam locomotive ever built. These engines were also made famous when in 1982 a class J, number 611, was restored to service. Many people probably remember seeing 611 at one point or another as she racked up mileage, pulling excursions for the NS steam program. She was removed from service in 1994 and has been silent ever since. I saw her run several times, and she had a huge effect on me as an artist, as a railfan, and as a lover of good machining and fine industrial design.
