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Earlier
this year, I was commissioned to do a special painting for my
friend Gary Moser. His dad was an engineer on the Bessemer
and Lake Erie Railroad and wanted a painting of the last
locomotive (B&LE No. 869) that his dad ran before his retirement in
the late 1980's. When I agreed to do the painting, I
asked Gary what scene he had in mind for his No. 869 painting and he
requested that I paint it crossing the B&LE's massive bridge
crossing the Allegheny River north of Pittsburgh. Needless
to say capturing all of the structure's intricate details was
quite challenging, but I was really pleased with the end
result...and so was Gary. This is my second B&LE painting
and my third painting set in Bessemer country. To order
prints of this exciting new painting see...
Rail Theme Gallery
"Belden Hill
Pushers"

In the 1980's,
when I lived in the Southern Tier of New York State,
I had many opportunities to watch the assault
on Belden Hill. Heavy trains always had lots of
horsepower on the front end, but the real show was
on the back end as most trains had to be assisted up
the hill. The famous D&H shark-nosed Baldwins
were long gone as pushers on Belden Hill by the time
I arrived in New York State, but
when I decided to paint this scene, only the sharks
would do it justice. I originally painted this
scene in 2005, and though I've featured the original
on my web site, I never issued prints of this
painting until now. To order
prints of this exciting new painting see...
Rail Theme Gallery
New Paper...
I know it's
not a very exciting topic, but what it brings to the
finished product is very, very important. I
have been struggling for sometime to find the right
paper that enables my reproductions to have the true
colors contained in my original paintings and at the
same time be acid free and have an archival life.
I also wanted the paper to be heavyweight (more like
cardstock). And, on top of everything else, I
wanted to keep the cost low in order to make my
prints affordable. I had been using smooth
Bristol board (100-lb stock) as a substrate but I
wasn't happy with the texture and the colors were
not as brilliant as I had hoped for. I then
experimented with heavier watercolor paper and
different coated papers until I found a specialty
line of papers produced by Epson specifically
designed for the ink and printing process that I use
in my reproductions. Well, I couldn't have
been more pleased! The colors are spectacular,
the borders are gleaming white and the texture is
much better than the smooth Bristol paper that I had
been using. The one minor drawback to the
product is that the weight is 51-lb. stock so it is
thinner than the Bristol board, but will hold up
very well when matted and framed. From every
other perspective this is a superior product and has
a rated permanence life of 96-years. To find
out more about this product go to
www.epson.com and
search for Watercolor Paper - Radiant White. I
will now be using the new Epson® paper on all of my
larger size reproductions, and though the cost for
this new substrate is considerably higher, I will
not be increasing my current prices for the time
being. If you would like to see a reduced
sample of one of my prints on this new paper stock,
just send a stamped self addressed envelope and I'll
send you one. I know that you will be pleased.
A Word
about Originals...
Though
most of the artwork for sale on this site consists of
high-quality prints, mostly all of the original paintings are
also for sale unless commissioned by an individual or already
sold. Most of the original paintings are 18" x 12" in size
and range in price from $450 upwards to $650 exclusive of S&H
costs and framing. I have not listed prices for originals
because all originals are shipped framed and matted and since
that involves custom work, I prefer to discuss those details
directly with the buyer. If you are interested in
purchasing an original, please send an email or call me direct.
I would be happy to discuss the details with you. Fine
art is truly affordable.
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