Paintings

My daughter works in the Probate Court for Essex County in Massachusetts. The court is in temporary quarters while the Courthouse is being rebuilt and modernized. The temporary offices have no windows and needed cheering-up. So she decided to create a program to put art in the workplace. She was aided by a grant from the State. 

School children, local artists and craftspeople are all participating. My contribution are two acrylic paintings I created for the event. 

The peppers are from my garden. I loved the way they looked sitting in the bowl - like new and shiny toys. The cherry pie painting was from a photo - I couldn't find anyone willing to make me a pie.

The railroad bridge over the Cape Cod Canal

Here I am standing almost at the top of the railroad bridge that crosses the Cape Cod canal. I was invited to come for a visit and watch the bridge go up and down for the Cape Cod trash train. 

As the train was approaching the attendant asked if I'd like to lower the bridge. "You bet!" I said and was shown how to do it - there's a whole protocol and you have to watch the lights on the operator's board to make sure everything is going properly. The train crossed the bridge without a mishap thanks to my flawless operation.

My friend Bob who was visiting with me got to raise the bridge. It was fun all around.

Making a wall mold

A friend lent me a cast resin retaining wall he had used for his HO waterfront railroad. It's a long wall and the stones are large enough to use it for O scale. So I mounted it on a sheet of Plexiglass and made a mold from it. I used Micro Mark 10 to one casting rubber. I chose the rubber because of it's high strength and its ability to resist tearing. It should give me dozens of plaster and resin castings without showing any signs of wear.