Pastel painting 16 inches x 11 inches     SOLD

I just gave this pastel commission to my client and he loved it. His father was 47 when he was born and he’d never had a photo of the two of them together. When he was a boy in the 1940s, his dad, a train engineer, often took him to the rail yards to look at the mamouth machines. He provided me with 5 photos of himself when he was young, his only photo of his father (lounging on a sofa), a huge book of train photos and 2 railroad engineer caps. It was a daunting task to take all of that information and try to make it into a cohesive composition.

I felt like I was really creating an historical illustration, as opposed to a fine art pastel portrait. But I enjoyed the challenge and am looking forward to creating another commissioned painting of his wife and her father!

Plein air pastel painting of an old caboose at a train station.

Pastel painting 8 inches x 11 inches

Whoa. Thatsa lotta color! I don’t seem to use much red in my paintings but I think I made up for it in this one! Maybe a bit too much…?

The plein air buddies hit the old train station in Saline a couple of weeks ago. It has been nicely cleaned up and made into a museum by the historical society in town. The vibrant red caboose parked on the tracks was hard to ignore. I started out doing watercolor paintings but experienced a bit of trouble so I switched over to pastel. I was feeling bold and dynamic that day, and I think this pastel painting proves it!