Eric Bottomley's Transport Gallery: A Journey Across the Canvas

By Eric Bottomley

This is Eric Bottomley's second art book, in which he has varied both his transport themes and the mediums in which he works. The majority of paintings are in oils but also included are gouache (watercolor) and pencil sketches. However, some paintings are both gouache and pencil, together known as mixed media.Railways have always been a great passion of Eric's, from trainspotting around the ex-Lancashire & Yorkshire system as a boy, to painting commisions for customers both private and commercial. From his lowly studio in Wimborne, Dorset, where his painting career took off, Eric never envisaged that one day he would witness his paintings being presented to the Duke of Kent, or that he would meet the Duke of Gloucester (a fellow railway enthusiast). In 1979 he joined the Guild of Railway Artists, and later became a full member.Included in this book are all four regions of Britain's railway, but mostly the BR period from 1948, to the end of steam in 1968. Added to this are such scenes as the Trans-Siberian Express in Moscow, The Golfers Express leaving Belfast and preserved diesels in the USA.The sad demise of steam and dereliction of the canals in the 1960s, and the amazing restoration projects over the years, has provided Eric with an enormous scope of subject matter, much of which is captured in this compelling book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Aug 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781473876309

Eric Bottomley

Eric Bottomley was born in Oldham in 1948. He studied art and crafts at the Oldham School of Art, leaving in 1964 to pursue a career in commercial art. As a freelance artist and illustrator, he specialised in industrial and transport subjects. He set up a studio in Wimborne Minster and later, in 1979, became a member of the Guild of Railway Artists. In the 1980s, Eric moved to Much Marcle, Herefordshire, where he often painted the local scene and its industries. Eric has covered most forms of transport, producing work for private commissions and corporate customers. He now lives in South Devon, where he continues to paint and pursue his other great railway passion, that of modelling the railways and industrial scene of his youth, in 0 Gauge.

Book preview

ACRYLIC AND SOAP!

I’VE INCLUDED THESE two illustrations done in my days as a commercial artist/illustrator. One of our agency’s clients was ‘Dennis’ and back in the late 1960s and ‘70s it was a trendy technique to mix washing up liquid with acrylic paint to achieve a ‘swirly bubble’ effect as a background and sometimes the whole illustration was done in this way. It had to be done on line board which had a very hard, smooth non-porous surface (watercolour paper/board or canvas would be too absorbent to achieve this effect). This enabled the paint to dry slower leaving the bubbles visible. When dry you can work on top (minus soap) with acrylic or gouache in a more opaque way to define your subject.

The two Dennis vehicles shown here are a vintage drain cleaner and a 1960s fire engine.

HINDLIP HALL AT GOBOWEN

– first 3 stages of painting.

HINDLIP HALL AT GOBOWEN

– second 3 stages

‘HINDLIP HALL’ AT GOBOWEN

THIS PAINTING WAS commissioned by the West Mercia Police to mark improvements to their headquarters site at Hindlip Hall, Worcester in November 2010. The location of Gobowen was a piece of self-indulgence on the part of an ex-police officer from that part of the country. Not only was it his local railway station but he asked if I would paint him in the picture as a boy playing ‘conkers’ with his pal whilst they were trainspotting. Knowing that the officer in question was now a driver on the Severn Valley Railway, I told him it would cost a footplate ride on the SVR, which he duly gave me on the Stanier mogul from Kidderminster to Bridgenorth and back. You can’t beat the old barter system! The painting depicts ex-GWR 4-6-0 Hall class No.4934 appropriately named Hindlip Hall, on a passenger working from Chester to Shrewsbury during the late 1950s. In the adjacent platform waits an Ivatt 2-6-0 No. 46521 of Brecon shed.

The occasion was opened by HRH The Duke of Gloucester who, apart from having a university degree in architecture, also has a healthy interest in railways. He was presented with a framed limited edition print of the painting and, when I was introduced to him, was most complimentary about my work. The original painting now hangs in the hallway of the headquarters with a replica nameplate of the loco positioned above.

Welshpool and Llanfair Railway.

‘HINDLIP HALL’ AT GOBOWEN – finished painting.

Oil on canvas 20x 30 (508mm x 762mm).

PATRIOT POWER, SKIPTON

I REMEMBER THE Patriots with great affection. The one I saw regularly was a Liverpool Bank Hall loco, No. 45517, one of a few that never received a name. Along with three Jubilees, Mars, Glorious and Dauntless, these engines worked the cross-Pennine route through the Calder Valley on Liverpool to York expresses. Another regular around the Manchester area was 45509 The Derbyshire Yeomanry. I also remember my trainspotting days coming to an end when the scrapping of these locos began in 1961. I never got to Skipton in steam days but I chose the location for the open space looking across the wide sweep of tracks. It’s a great shame that none of these Fowler designed locos were ever saved; however, I do look forward to seeing No. 45551 The Unknown Warrior, currently being built from scratch on the Llangollen