Theresa · Mather

I've been meaning to repaint an older black and white piece titled Rail Fan in color for some time but never got around to it. Rustycon's steampunk theme gave me an excuse to finally get it done. I selected an older train than in the first version since it looks more steam-punky, and is more colorful. I'm artist guest of honor at Rustycon, so this image will appear on the cover of the program book and on the T-shirts which are being printed by Offworld Designs. The original black and white version was painted for Chattacon a few years ago, and there were no prints. The color version will have prints made from it, and probably eventually a companion piece. Acrylic on masonite, approximately 7x10 inches.

Xonmeister's been getting ahead of me posting my art to my website. I'm in a silly mood, so I think I'll type a bit about one of the humor pieces he posted. It was painted in black and white for a con program book cover. I like the special discipline of painting without color.

Railfan was painted for Chattacon, in Chattanooga, Tennessee where I was artist guest of honor in 2006. The con was held at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel , the lobby of which is actually the circa 1908 train station for the city. Historic trains with cars that serve as hotel rooms are surrounded by formal gardens. It's truly a wild venue. The Chattacon 24 hour con suite is legendary- it taught me the true meaning of the term "Southern Hospitality." You could eat all your meals there and drink all the beer you can and be well fed and watered- this is real food they serve. I heartily recommend Chattacon ...it's a big party, and the people are great. And 2008 should be fun 'cause Rowena is the artist guest, and she's a sweetie as well as amazingly talented.
But I digress.
The cover, of course, needed to feature the train theme. I've painted lots of trains for carousel scenery, but none for con art shows before. All the railfans I know are nuts. They take and swap pictures, they wait for trains to go around scenic bends, they seem to have an obsession. So I painted a dragon railfan. He's a dragon...no need to oggle at the train from beside the track or settle for pictures. He's going for a ride. The engineer looks perturbed. The train's number is 31 'cause it was for Chattacon 31.

I think I'll rework this piece in color for a possible future print perhaps.