My own iron journey

I have been an artist since I was a kid, with a great deal of encouragement from my mother. I was confident that I was going to be a professional artist until a bad teacher threw me off-track in junior high. I often ponder how different my life would have been if I had gone directly to art school from high school. Instead I worked on the narrow gauges for over a quarter of a century, and developed my art talents as a constructive way to pass the winter months while laid off. In the 1980s I started to sell paintings and, about the same time I realized that there was no "career" in having a railroad career. So I made a goal to make the art biz my primary income source by 1994, and actually was able to go full-time in '95. Since then, I have worked part-time railroading and even bus-driving. All artists have to be ready to roll out a "plan B" as the arts can be a feast-or-famine proposition. I also like painting landscapes, ghost towns and old cars but painting trains has paid the bills. My paintings have been on the cover of the Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette, several railroad books and on Coors Beer steins. Being an artist offers an incredible level of personal freedom, but it requires very hard work and dedication, more than being a steam locomotive engineer ever required of me. Being a professional artist is a very scary business, as you literally don't know how, when and where the next dollar bill is coming from. It is also the most rewarding, fulfilling and important part of my life.