"Old Machines I" February 2001. 610 x 377 mm, Acrylic+Canvasboard, Framed

Man-made machines. A close-up of the working parts of an ancient steam locomotive now rusting forlornly at the Millsite yard. I've always had a fascination for those old workhorses of a previous industrial era - you can see the guts of the power it expressed. In my earlier days I used to paint them with as much realism as possible, but in this work I dispensed with technical accuracy to capture the spirit of this piece of neglected history. This is a work about humanity! Behind the inevitable ingress of physical decay, we see the endeavours of mankind. Fallible. Temporal. But not accidental. Note: The outer frame is made from old railroad sleeper timbers.