SANTA FE NO. 92 IN THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF RAILWAY ARTISTS NATIONAL EXHIBITION IN LAS VEGAS

Santa Fe No. 92, 15 x 10 inch ink and watercolor painting by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

My painting of Santa Fe No. 92 in "warbonnet" paint at the Illinois Railway Museum is included in the national ASRA artists' exhibition in the Big Springs Gallery at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas, Nevada, that will be on view from September 30, 2016 through January 8, 2017.  The gallery is open every day from 10:00am to 6:00pm.  The Springs Preserve is a 180 acre site that includes the Nevada State Museum, the Origen Museum (of Natural History), a Botanic Garden, hiking trails and other attractions.  There is an admission fee to enter the Preserve.

2-DAY EXHIBITION AT ARTS ON ELSTON IN CHICAGO SEPTEMBER 27 AND 28, 2013

Santa Fe No. 92,  15 x 10 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

I will be showing my watercolors and miniature rustic twig furniture in a two day group show at ARTS ON ELSTON, 3446 N. Albany in Chicago.  The gallery is located on the corner of Albany and Elston Avenues across the street from Chief O'Neill's Pub, two blocks east of Kedzie and south of Addison.  The exhibition will be open Friday, September 27 from 6 to 10pm, and Saturday, September 28 from 11am to 7pm.  The Friday night reception features musical guests Sean Cleland and the Irish Music School of Chicago.  The exhibition features the art of 15 artists, most of whom will be present both days.  On Saturday the gallery will be a stop on the AVONDALE ART WALK.

Santa Fe No. 92 is one of several subjects from the Illinois Railway Museum in the show.  Also shown will be watercolors of dancers and subjects from my recent trip to South Florida.

ILLINOIS CENTRAL MOGUL

Illinois Central Mogul, 14 x 10 inch watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

I painted this at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.  The name "mogul" describes a type of steam locomotive based on the number and arrangement of its leading, driving, and trailing wheels.  A mogul is a 2-6-0, meaning it has two leading wheels, six driving wheels, and no trailing wheels.

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.

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.

MY RAILROAD ART

  

16 x 12 inch Illinois Railway Museum Poster by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

 Trains were some of the first things I drew when I was a little kid.  I had electric trains-- I still have them, actually, as well as the electric trains I inherited from my father.  I have always enjoyed looking at and riding on trains, and over the years as a landscape painter I had done a number of paintings that include some railroad imagery.  Then in the late 1990s an artist friend who was teaching a summer college course in on-site painting invited me to accompany his classes to various sites around Chicago because he knew I enjoyed painting on location.  One of the places we worked was the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.  I was quite pleased with the painting I did there, and I thought the museum offered a lot of interesting subjects to paint, so I started going there 2 or 3 times each summer with my watercolors.  My on-site railroad art enabled me to get commissions for large railroad-themed murals in hotels in Cleveland and Pittsburgh.  I gave the series a name: AGE OF IRON: Railroad Art by George C. Clark, and showed paintings from it in various exhibitions, although I have not yet done an exhibition of railroad art exclusively.

When I did an exhibition at the Vanderpoel Art Museum in Chicago in 2010 I reproduced Saddle-tank Switch Engine on both the announcement card and a 16 x 12 inch poster for the show.  I sent a poster to the Railway Museum asking them to post it for their volunteer staff to see, and the manager of the museum store called me and asked me to make a poster for the IRM with the same image for them to sell to the public.  I self-published the poster for them, and then they invited me to show framed prints of some of my railroad art in their ArtCar display space and asked me to let them sell unframed prints in the museum store.  I was happy to oblige, and that's how I became sort of an "official" artist of the Illinois Railway Museum.  I used to paint there on quiet weekday mornings, but now they want me to come on busy weekends and be an "event" for their visitors.  The last time I was there painting I had the honor of having tourists ask me to autograph prints of my art they had just purchased!

Saddle-tank Switch Engine, 14 x 10 inch watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

My original watercolor painting Saddle-tank Switch Engine is currently on display with other examples of my work at the Longbranch Gallery, 203 Commerce Street in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.