February 7, 2005
Woke up to more rain. Sprinkled on and off all day.

Drew trains all day. One of my earliest memories is of drawing steam engines on the living room floor of our rental house in Swea City, Iowa. Must have been about 1952-53. When my dad got home from the Phillips 66 gas station, I would beg him to draw a train and then I'd go copy it. In his last years, at my art openings, he liked to tell the story that I quickly drew better trains than he could. This was a major motivator for me because it was so hard to get his attention, him being a stoic Norwegian male, and all.

Today I was womping on two 1870s steam engines with the big, fat smokestacks, and a Santa Fe Sunset Super Chief. All in scratchboard. Contacted Grand Canyon Railway about getting a conductor image. They Emailed one, but it's weak. I remember a perfect guy who was up there in 1991, I think his name was Marv and he was from Williams. All of their printed materials had him on it. He’s probably long gone by now. I need a close-up of the conductor yelling, “All aboard!” Weasels-Ripped-My-Flesh look in his eyes. Monster lit. Hand cupped to mouth. Curved Old-Timey lettering. A variety of trains are pulling out along the bottom—a virtual history of trains and their evolution. All of it is enveloped in steam. Railroad warning crossing signs are in the top corners. Special Old West Train Collector’s Edition, top slug.

Carole and I went to lunch at Pei Wei (she bought, so who cares, actually she spent $22 cash, includes tip.)

Picked up the truck at five. Four new tires, lube and oil change ($650 biz account).

Worked until 5:40. Whipped out a couple more sketches. Anxious to do something train-worthy. Pulled down about 15 books from our library. Amazing how many train books we have (maybe 30). And it really is incredible how many different types of steam engines there were. It's as varied as cars. "No, that's a Giant Erie broad-gauge engine No. 144, built by Danforth & Cooke in 1853." Really? "I thought it was a FastbackTwentieth Century Limited powered by a big Hudson."

“About mistakes it's funny. You've got to make your own; and not only that, if you try to keep people from making their's, they get mad.”
—Edna Ferber