GLACIER VALLEY
THUNDER
16"x27" oil-on-canvas
© 2002 J. Craig Thorpe, commissioned by the White Pass & Yukon Route
It is my distinct pleasure
to once again work with the WP&YR to produce a piece
of art celebrating this unique railway. The setting and composition
for Glacier Valley
Thunder
actually evolved quite rapidly. Marketing Director Michael Brandt began our
discussions by requesting that the piece focus on locomotive 73, which will
have more visibility in the 2003 season. We discussed a variety of settings
along the line, but decided upon this spot which looks across Glacier Valley
and up at the expanse of Tunnel Mountain with a second train crossing the unique
timber trestle. This point of view contrasts and compliments one of my earlier
paintings which features the GE shovel-nose diesels and looks
across the valley from Rocky Point and down to a second train beginning its
ascent.
I have ridden the White Pass several times and had reference
photos of the tunnel entrance and bridge taken from basically
the same location as this painting. However, I did not have
any photos or sketches of the mountain formations to the left
of the tunnel. Because we wanted to show the 73 working upgrade
I knew those distant mountains were essential. After describing
what shots I needed, Michael hopped the next train out of Skagway
armed with a digital camera. By printing out and splicing together
the images, I had exactly what was needed.
Without distorting the reality of the scene, I slightly compressed
the landscape in order to capture the various dramatic forms,
colors and textures. I produced an initial pencil sketch to
locate the essential compositional elements and after that
was approved, transferred the image to canvas and roughed in
the color. We had originally considered the painting to reflect
the yellows of early autumn, but I soon felt that the brilliant
fuchsia of the mid-summer fireweed, which grows along the right-of-way,
would add to the richness of the piece. Further, the character
of the fireweed worked with the vertical lines of the fir trees
to not only contrast the essential horizontal composition,
but more importantly lead the viewer's eye up to the mass of
the mountains and the second train. The addition of a bald
eagle, just below the bridge, adds a touch of Alaska wildness
to the composition.
The 73 is working hard on the grade, but
the column of smoke and whisps of steam suggest that speed
isn't critical here.
What is essential is the passengers' contact with the wilderness.
One of the constant themes of my rail art is that trains are
not the nemesis of landscape. Indeed, they have been seen as "companions
of the mountains." This phrase comes from Northern Pacific
Railway ads produced in the 1930s featuring the art of Gustav
Krollmann. It is my intent to tell our culture, through the
evocative medium of paint, that there is an alternative to
asphalt. Trains are not simply the stuff of nostalgia, as wonderful
as that is; they are critical for the stewardship of our landscapes
and cityscapes today. Further, passenger trains enable community,
as passengers -- together -- experience the majesty of seacoast,
prairie, and in this case the Alaska-Yukon wilderness. These
paintings, then, are not just train or locomotive portraits.
They are "landscapes of expectation" which invite
the viewer into captivating settings on a form of transport
crucial to the preservation of our national landscapes and
even civility itself.
My thanks to the White Pass & Yukon
for this opportunity to once again paint the captivating
story of steel wheels on
steel rails. |
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