TRAM IN BASEL, SWITZERLAND

Tram in Basel,  23 x 29 inch oil and pencil on paper painting by George C. Clark   PRINT AVAILABLE

I liked the look of the four-wheeled streetcars they had in Basel, but they wouldn't hold still long enough for me to draw them, so I painted this from my photographs.  The bearded passenger with the hat is a self-portrait.  This painting was accepted at one of the juryings for the Art Rental and Sales Gallery of the Art Institute of Chicago, back in the days when the museum supported and exhibited Chicago artists.  A few months later I was walking down Michigan Avenue and I glanced into the plate glass front of the Michigan Avenue National Bank, and there in the lobby on a big square pillar facing me was Tram in Basel.  The bank kept it for two rental periods, then returned it to the gallery where it was purchased by a private collector.  Unframed 12 x 16 inch prints of this painting are available for $10 at the Museum Store of the Illinois Railway Museum in Union Illinois.

HAMBURG

The Jungfernsteig Bridge in Hamburg, 9 x 12 watercolor by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

This was painted the same day as Rathaus in Hamburg that I posted earlier.  I think the Rathaus was behind me and to my right as I painted this one.  Earlier I had painted the view of the Rathaus from the bridge you see in this painting.

MILLPOND IN MAASTRICHT

Millpond in Maastricht, Holland,  14 x 10 inch watercolor by George C. Clark   SOLD

A sunny winter morning in the Netherlands, but a little too cold for on-site painting.

TWO RECENT RAILROAD PAINTINGS

Chicago Streetcar Barn, Illinois Railway Museum, 14 x 10 inch watercolor by George C. Clark  AVAILABLE

Last summer, after I had been invited to create a poster and railroad prints for the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois, I was also invited to come out on a busy weekend in September to paint on site and be an event for museum visitors.  Because the trains are moved around from time to time, I went out there on a sunny day a week ahead with my camera to pick some good painting locations, both indoors and out, September weather being what it is.  The day I came to paint turned out to be really overcast and threatening to rain, so I set up in the corner of the car barn where old Chicago street cars are displayed.  That's a "Green Hornet" streamlined car from the 1940s in the foreground, a 1970s "Skokie Swift" train behind it, and an old car from the 1920s or earlier in the distance.  The overcast light was actually better for painting than it been the week before, when bright sunlight had been coming in the open doors to the left.  I finished the painting on site, then took a break for a late lunch.

Burlington Northern No. 3007, 14 x 12 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark  AVAILABLE

After lunch, although it was still overcast it hadn't actually rained, so I decided to work outdoors.  I liked the front of this locomotive, but it had looked better as a painting subject in sunlight.  I set up in front of it with a folding card table and a stool and spent about an hour and a half doing a fairly tight ink drawing on watercolor board.  The rain held off until the drawing was almost finished and I had to pack up and leave.  At home I used the photographs I had taken in sunlight as a guide when I added my watercolors.

FAST FOOD

Fast Food in the Yorkshire Dales, 14 x 11 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark     SOLD

I found this fish and chips shop in Pately Bridge, a market town in Nidderdale in Yorkshire.  We were on our way to Whitby and had stopped here briefly for a traveling companion to use an ATM, so I did this painting later from photographs.

MARIENPLATZ, MUNICH

Marienplatz, Munich, 9 x 12 inch watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

I painted this sitting on one of those metal chairs the city leaves around for tired shoppers, tourists and artists.

THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR

House in Ravenswood, 16 x 12 inch watercolor by George C. Clark    SOLD

This was the view from my studio window when I lived in an apartment building in the Ravenswood neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago.

ROOFTOPS OF KETTLEWELL

The View From the Skylight, 10 x 13 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

The Rooftops of Kettlewell, 13 x 10 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    SOLD

When I was taking part in an Earthwatch archaeology project in England, the volunteers stayed at the Youth Hostel in Kettlewell, a charming town in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.  The Youth Hostel occupies a three story 1828 building that is taller than anything in town except the church tower.  My room on the third floor didn't have a window, but if I stood up straight and tilted open the skylight, I could see this view overlooking the 17th century building across the street.  People can own property in Britain's national parks, but they can't tear down historic buildings, and new buildings have to match the style of the old ones.  The only way to tell new from old is that old buildings have external plumbing.
The Rooftops of Kettlewell is the view from the end of the third floor hallway looking over the building next door.