In this painting, I went with my idea of layering paintings to create a greater overall painting. This painting is on panel, and I added another dimention to this painting by cutting a hole in the panel in which I could perfectly fit a small painting. This is another dark painting, and the larger part of the painting creates the effect that a fast moving train has at night, where all that you really see is a faint impression of the locomotive rushing towards you, and with a flash of side-rods and a rush of steam, she is gone; disappeared into the cold night air. The smaller painting inside the larger painting is more representative of what you would see if you could freeze the moment in time; one frame in what could be a series.This was a real event I witnessed, when I waited track side, on a frigid night, for the mighty Norfolk and Western class A to thunder through my mother's home town of Rome GA. This was about 1990, and I was quite young, but I remember it as if it happened yesterday.
This painting has actually been untitled until now. I might still change the title, but A Night Train seems fitting because it is the A at night.
Close up on painting inside of painting, (Night Sound):
Permanently burned into my memory was the dark night when a large steam locomotive (N&W 1218) and her train rushed out of the night and passed within feet of where I was standing. I dreamed about this moment for years. I can still hear her whistle echoing against the surrounding hills. I was only 9 at the oldest, but the thought of this moment still sends chills down my spine.
