Nocturne in Blue and Gold - The Tay Train

My attempt at a more dreamlike and loose painting to capture the atmosphere and lighting of the scene. Inspired by Theodor Fontane's ballad "the Tay Bridge".

"The Tay Bridge" by Theodor Fontane

Extract:

The husband and wife, with an anxious eye,

Look out to the south and of misgivings sigh,

Keeping a lookout and praying for a light,

Which o'er the water advances bright,

Proclaiming, "In spite of night and driving rain,

I come, I, the Edinburgh train."

(The complete ballad can be found here http://johnmaynard.net/TayEnglish.pdf)

Aesthetic Vision

The style of the digital painting "Nocturne in Blue and Gold - The Tay Train" was influenced by several factors. The famous British painter J. M. W. Turner definitely had one of the strongest influences. I particularly used Turner's painting "Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway" as reference, not only in terms of style and expression, but also in terms of composition as you can see and compare beneath.

Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway (Turner, 1844)

Nocturne in Blue and Gold - The Tay Train (Heisler, 2013)

The sketch for "Nocturne in Blue and Gold Valparaiso Bay" by James McNeill Whistler was also a great inspiration in terms of colour scheme, atmosphere and the gold lights Whistler used on the boats and left hand side.

Sketch for Nocturne in Blue and Gold Valparaiso Bay (Whistler, 1866)

Painting Process

Quick blocking in of shaped and overall atmosphere of the painting -> dark and cool colours.

I then started to redefine the exact composition and add in more colours to the train to make it stand out.

Between the last progress step and this final painting there has been a lot of work and time invested. The colours are now optimized (complementary colours: blues against orange) as well as the details in the reflection of the water.

Reflection

Pros

• The painting process worked out well as I kept it loose and begun with basic shapes to be more flexible and to not be afraid of making big changes. After I was happy with the design I was able to add in details in the parts of the painting that had to read. By keeping the other parts less detailed the focus on the train was further strengthened.
• Using the complementary colour orange on the train against the blue surroundings to create more dynamism and stand out more also worked out nicely.
• A further positive note is the overall feel and atmosphere as well as the the water reflections of the lights from the train that add just that bit extra to the whole scene and make it more interesting.

Cons

• I noticed that the perspective is a bit off. This is mainly because I just started painting and was guessing/estimating the about perspective. This will hopefully get more accurate with more practice.
• It would be nice to have some more textures inside the painting to create the illusion of more happening and support the dynamic story of the scene.
• In the end I spent several days remastering the picture and redrawing parts. So overall I still need  to speed up the "production" time of my painting, though it is of course good to have a look at paintings after a break/a few days later as the mistakes become visible and one is able reflect on the paintings.