Abandoned Railway Sleeper, 2023
Oil, pigment & cold wax on board (unframed)
This piece was inspired by an old railway sleeper stuck in the ground vertically along the freight train line running through North Botany.
I came across it while engaged in my other passion: playing golf at Eastlake Golf Club on the 8th hole. The way the rust had taken hold of the old steel appealed to my eye, so I took a few photos, which I later used as the basis for the composition and color of the work.
1. This is one of the original images I captured of the sleeper. You can see the rust has created interesting textures in the surface.
2. This close up shows the beginnings of a composition.
3. The initial underpainting work was built up using a series of layering and compressions.
4. At this stage, the final composition started to take shape.
5. The completed artwork included more layering, compressions and rinses to unify the surface.