M7 Steam engine in the Southern Countryside - oil painting

Painting of locomotive in the countryside, set in the 1950s.

This nostalgic painting, measuring 22" x 16" and painted in oils, shows a traditional scene of an M7 Southern railway locomotive in the English countryside, during the 1950s. It is based on an old black and white photograph, possibly showing the Fawley branch or Hawkhurst branch/ Pooks Green, in southern England. Elements have been slightly rearranged in the composition from the photo and figures added.
The locomotive type itself, a 0-4-4 passenger tank locomotive, were built between 1897 and 1911, the last one in service in 1964. Two examples are preserved. They were built for the LSWR by Dugald Drummond at Nine Elms locomotive works, in south London.
The artwork was done with the intention of it being reproduced as a 7” x 5” greeting card for a railway society.  It can be seen in larger detail on this link.

 

 

Terrier Tank railway locomotive at Havant Station - WIP stages

Terrier Tank railway locomotive at Havant Station - WIP stages

Stages of painting the railway locomotive at rest

This railway themed painting was produced during November 2019, and is based on a poor quality photograph taken during 1957 at Havant station, UK. The photo above shows work in progress over four panels. In the first can be seen the initial drawing done in brown acrylic paint on top of a brown wash. As the painting referred to an old blurry and contrasty photograph, a lot of research had to be done to actually see what the everything actually looked like in terms of detail, as it was hidden in the shadows or difficult to make out. Not just the locomotive but the buildings and cars. Also the original picture had two men crewing the locomotive, but these were reposed by a friend and redrawn in to the scene. Once the scene was nailed down the first application of thinned oil paint is made in the form of underpainting, which gives a indication of areas of colour using darker tones/ hues. In the third panel thicker paint has been applied over the underpainting which is more in keeping with the final intended tone/ colour. The final panel shows the completed oil painting which also had an addition layer of 'glaze' or transparent paint applied to enhance colour/ contrast within the scene. This railway scene can be looked at in detail by following this link.

Terrier Tank railway locomotive at Havant Station - oil painting

Terrier Tank railway locomotive at Havant Station - oil painting

Painting of a 'Terrier' locomotive taking on water at Havant.

This railway themed oil painting shows a small tank locomotive (called because of the water tanks mounted each side of the boiler) at a station. The engine is being topped up in the station bay in the English town of Havant, on the south coast. The locomotive crew consisting of the driver and fireman are to be seen preforming checks before departing for another service, and refilling the water tanks. Based on an old blurry and contrasty photograph taken in 1957, some research was made in to the engine (a 'Terrier numbered 32661) and the surroundings, including the cars. In addition the figures were reposed and then redrawn, but based on the ones in the picture. The locomotive itself is a LBSCR/ SR class A 0-6-0T, commonly known as a 'Terrier'. These small but very popular locomotives were built during the 1870s, and have a very elegant design. Many were still in service in to the 1960s, and a number can be found still running on preserved railways.

Painted using oils in November 2019, on mounting board sized at 33” x 23” approx. The artwork can be seen in greater detail on this link.

Fantasy big railroad locomotive departing city - WIP stages

Fantasy big railroad locomotive departing city - WIP stages

Stages of the digital artwork consisting of the gigantic railway locomotive.

A gigantic railway locomotive is about to depart a city with very tall skyscrapers in this 1940s inspired retro railway illustration. The digital artwork was completed during December 2019. The first stage of the illustration was to do the initial drawing/ colour concept on a Samsung tablet running software called 'Auto Sketchbook Pro', a drawing app that uses a pressure sensitive pen. Once the concept is worked up to a point using the device, the file is then transferred to a more powerful windows desktop machine, which also runs the same program. The tablet can only do so much before it reaches its operational limits and the image, to be printable, needs to be of a far bigger size than the tablet can cope with. The file is exported as PSD levels as set on the tablet app, and these remain on the desktop file. The image is enlarged to 6000px (horizontal) and then is redrawn/ repainted at this new definition, with some work carried out additionally in Photoshop.

The picture below shows three panels, the first is the drawing with the second showing the colour rough as completed on the tablet. The final panel features the finished artwork as completed on the desktop machine. The illustration can be viewed in greater detail on this link.

Fantasy big railroad locomotive departing city - digital illustration

Fantasy big railroad locomotive departing city - digital illustration

Finished artwork of a giganitic steam locomotive at a big city fantasy illustration

The subject of this scifi/ fantasy scene is a extremely large steam locomotive about to depart a city comprising of some very tall skyscrapers. Some employees of the railroad are having a meeting before departure. The landscape has a retro/ 1940s vibe in terms of the design of the buildings, car and locomotive sitting on the monorail railroad track. The main engineer is dressed in a classic uniform for the job.

Auto Sketchbook pro was used for the creation of this digital illustration. Initially it was started using a Samsung tablet to rough out the idea up to a certain stage. It would be nice to continue using the tablet but it has technical limitations as digital work is processor and ram intensive. It is exported to a windows desktop computer, still running the same program but with the power that is now available. One of the first jobs is to resize the whole image to something that can be printed up to a large scale, the initial image being too small for anything other than screen viewing. Then the whole painting is redrawn/ painted to the final required details/ colour for final output.

The illustration was completed during early December 2019, and can be seen in detail by following this link.

Working on closeup 32

Working on closeup 32

A small snippet of a railway/ industrial painted subject.... 
 

WIP close up of fitter maintaining engine

Monster Train attacking Cowboys

Monster Train attacking Cowboys

A big, black steam train has transformed in to a monster. Some cowboys have come across it and the monster is angry. Its pistons have turned in to pincers and the firebox has teeth and claws to eat its victims with. Large clouds of dirty smoke are pumping out from the hot and aggressive metal creature, its lamp transformed in to an eye. The cowboys are trying their best at controlling it but the horse is very frightened.

Digital illustration painted in photoshop to A3 size during February 2014.

http://martin-davey.artistwebsites.com/featured/monster-train-attacking-cowboys-martin-davey.html

 

Monster Train attacking Cowboys-digital painting

class 85 electric locomotive at euston station

class 85 electric locomotive at euston station

This is so far the oldest image of mine that has been posted here. It was painted in 1992/93 and it is,unusually for this blog, painted in gouache. It was based on a B/W 35mm photograph I took back in 1990. At that time I was also developing my own B/W prints, in the bathroom! The colour reference was gained from reference and my own memory.
These were old electric locomotives at the time. Built at doncaster,UK in 1960, they were withdrawn and mostly scrapped in c1990, this one pictured, scrapped in 1991.

from the website...
This is quite an old painting, one of my oldest pieces on this site. It measures 15" x 10" and is painted on paper with acrylics. The artwork shows a class 85 electric locomotive at Euston (London) station in the early 1990s. These railway locomotives disappeared shortly afterwards from the network. It is based on a B/W photo that I took on a 35mm SLR camera and then printed my self (chemically) on to paper using an enlarger. Painting on paper allows one to paint finer details, in a small area than on canvas, due to the absence of the canvas weave. The driver in his cab helps to add interest and anticipation to the composition. I also felt that the 'straight on' composition adds a factual, no nonsense feeling to the artwork.
Painted early 1990s. 

Animal Train

Animal Train

A train journey for an assortment of animals.A pig is driving, with passengers made up of a lion,giraffe,elephant and monkey hanging on at the rear. It is set, apart from the animals, in a very english setting with english railway equipment. My original intention was to repaint an earlier image featuring cute pigs traveling in a train. The earlier image was painted quite small (link) so the intention was to redo it on a larger scale. But things sometimes never quite work out, and I ended up doing a different take on the subject matter. Painted in late 2008 in photshop.

from the website...

Cartoon animals on a railway journey was digitally painted during 2008 in photoshop, to a A4 size. It features a pig driving, lion reading, bear listening to gramophone, snake on chimney, elephant and giraffe. A monkey is hanging on to the end of the train. Finally a blackbird guard is timekeeping and has just been dislodged from the falling signal arm. The image is in some ways quite realistically painted in terms of the foliage, reflections and general tone and colour qualities. But the perspective is quite (stylistically) distorted, in particular the track, to show and clarify the overall scene. But the occupants and in particular the engine are drawn as solid objects in a 3 dimensional world. This illustration is a development from this earlier illustration. The intention was to redo this earlier image to a larger size, but once you start drawing different ideas come out!
Painted in 2008. 

Little Happy Pigs On Train Journey

DAY TRIP FOR PIGS ON RAILWAY

This painting dates from 2005, and is one of the earliest photoshop illustrations of mine on the internet. I enjoy painting 'eccentric' railway locomotives, and I wanted to, at the time paint a picture which is clear and cute to the viewer. I have built in unrealistic curves in to the train track, hills and clouds.

from the website...
This is a very early digital painting, possibly the second one produced. The illustration shows some pigs on a day trip riding on a train in the countryside. The engine is a red steam engine, driven by a happy pig driver. The passengers are happy as well looking at the scenery, though one of them is busy reading a newspaper. I did intend to redraw this at a larger resolution, but the image changed in to another, similar illustration instead.