“There was never a time when art and trains were not a fascination of mine. Our family moved to Elwood in the early 1940s and there were trains (steam engines in the early days), great looking automobiles, comic books and Sunday comic strips. Drawing was always a talent of mine and hours were spent drawing from those sources into high school and beyond. With no formal training over those years, painting came much later and in 1983, the Elwood Glass Festival offered a chance to exhibit a few of the paintings. Few people knew of my artwork, but the only painting entered in the Art Contest (it had to contain glass) won top prize. Before the weekend was over, the five additional paintings for sale were sold. The 1983 Glass Festival winner was my last oil painting. Acrylics appealed to me and it’s the only medium used since. Because of my strong interest in Elwood’s rail history, the paintings have been related to dates, names and places as they occurred.”