Trains
Trains have been a recurring theme throughout my life.
My Grandad was an Engineer for the C&O Railway for many years. He came home from work in his striped overalls and cap covered in soot, smelling of smoke from the big locomotive.
When I was a photography student at Marshall University in the 70's, my summer photography class spent five weeks in Cass, WV, living in two houses which belonged to the Mower Lumber Company.
The logging company had closed down years before, so the massive old Shay steam engine trains pulled tourists up the mountain to Bald Knob. The student photographers spent their time photographing the local folk and documenting the WV flora and fauna. We put together make-shift darkrooms in the house, blacking out the windows and printing photos into the night. It was a wonderful experience.
So now, as I paint this model steam engine, it rekindles those memories. My inspiration is the children who shall benefit, so I decided on a whimsical approach. Pop Art, Op Art, Peter Max style, retro Big Top Circus style with a twist. On the outside looking in, or is it inside looking out? You decide.
As a native Huntingtonian, I worked at WSAZ-TV in the control room after college, was a free-lance photographer for Ashland Oil, a Realtor in WV and OH, a glass bead maker/jewelry designer, and was a member of the TRiO staff at Marshall University. Now I'm enjoying retirement with my husband Bill, multi-talented daughter Alison, and three dogs who never let me out of their sight.
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