Friday 3 July 2020

The Tank Engine Man

The Reverend W. Audry was known as the 'Tank Engine Man' through his books about railways for children. I've been re -reading his biography  and have been reminded about a painting I did several years ago using Thomas and some of the other characters from the series.
In 1993 I did a painting entitled 'Young Lives' about the ten Coney cousins of our children's generation. In preparation, I instructed them to collect all the ephemera of their lives in a large envelope which was then used to represent them.
The picture comprises of ten DNA structures  used rather like railway lines, with Thomas and his friends moving the material up and down the line.
Audry's characters each have one personality trait, so I have used several for each cousin to try and symbolise their multi faceted personalities.
You can see the painting (its  long and thin) in the photography section of my Facebook page and it's amongst the images showing my retrospective  at the Babylon Gallery.
My three year old grandson is coming this weekend and he has been promised a  play with my collection of Thomas and the other models.

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