Tour guide Lynn Nystrom

Historic photo from the Railroad museum of the rotary engine

1930′s aerial photograph of the Cheyenne Union Pacific Roundhouse

“1930′ s-48″

“1930′s- 48″ detail

When we first moved to Cheyenne, Dave and I took the Union Pacific roundhouse tour lead by retired engineer Lynn Nystrom. Clad in his denim overalls, Lynn guided us through the guts of the repair shop, next to the yard to see the retired and active engines and finally to the few remaining stalls of the roundhouse. In its day, the 48 stall roundhouse must have been something. The one stall we saw was huge with soaring multi paned windows, large enough to hold several engines including the “snowblower”with its huge rotary blade for clearing tracks.

Because of this tour and the constant presence of the railway in Cheyenne, for the last two or three years I have been thinking of creating a railway based piece. Last month I took some time to visit the railroad museum in the Depot and was attracted to a 1930′s aerial photo of the old roundhouse. It became the source photo for the piece currently on my easel. It’s a mixed media piece using construction details from denim clothes like seams, pockets and button and then over painted with acrylics.

The piece is a combination of the new Drift series and the older Fabric of America series. I am still adjusting the values and colors but it is nearing completion. It needs to be done and ready to photograph in the next few weeks for a show I plan to enter. SO…time to hit the rails, and get to work!

These three pieces are the first in a series I intend to explore further. I began saving the construction and design details from the jeans and denim clothing I was cutting up for the Empty Spaces series. There were some great textures and wear patterns worth saving for a future project! I had intended to do these pieces in a golden palette but as I was working on these during the end of my residency at Brush Creek, it began to snow. I was reminded of how much I liked what the snow did to the landscape. Drifting snow obscures some details and accentuates others. Then there is the way the sun dances on the snow and casts blue tinted shadows. So Drift was born (did I mention I was working in a studio that used to be a calving shed?).

Saturday Dave and I made a Meals on Wheels thrift store run to seek out more colors of clothing ( at least that’s what I was doing) As usual, I checked out with the strangest bunch of clothing! What do they think of me?! Oh well, its the life of an artist.I estimate this piece will take me two solid weeks of steady work. I am aiming to enter it in a show in Arizona. It has to be done by the end of this month! Can it be done?

My palette!