Marybeth Heikes

Paintings in Watercolor & Mixed Media

Posts Tagged “Engine”

Zephyr

Zephyr

April 16, 2015

This painting is done from a photo of the old Zephyr engine located in Albia, Iowa. Currently I am working on a series of different train engines in collage. I find these old engines fascinating and love painting them using my acrylic hand-painted papers. All the details on the engines add interest: the bell, railing, […] more »

Engine Nine Zero 45

Engine Nine Zero 45

April 9, 2015

This collage is a continuation of my popular train engine series. I have been doing engines for a number of years now. This one is a close-up of a Union Pacific. I used one of my reference photos for this. The details of the engine caught my eye: the shadow shapes, the numerals and flag, […] more »

Nine Seventy Three

Nine Seventy Three

April 7, 2015

This collage painting is one of my Engine Series. It is the Appanoose County Red engine, circa 1952. It has been recently repainted a bright red with white stripes. I worked from my photographs, and designed a vertical format which accentuates the dynamic bulk of the engine. Some of the foreground papers have oil pastel […] more »

Zero 27 U.P.

Zero 27 U.P.

November 25, 2013

This miniature watercolor was done specifically for the Montana Watercolor Society’s fund-raising program. All the award winners this year were asked to complete a piece seven by nine-and-a-half inches. For me, that is a big challenge. I am more comfortable painting full-sheet paintings of twenty-two by thirty and larger. So painting in a restricted size […] more »

BNSF Seven

BNSF Seven

September 16, 2013

Lately it seems to me that I have been working on a locomotive series. When I was in Ottumwa last month, I took photos of this engine sitting briefly on the tracks and I took the opportunity to get a variety of photographs, even though it was cloudy. I prefer the morning sunlight and strong […] more »

Front, BNSF

Front, BNSF

March 14, 2013

This painting is a continuation of my engine series.  It is a close-up of an engine I photographed in the Albia trainyard in winter.  I wanted to focus on the abstract design qualities and omit some of the details.  I drew the large shapes first and then added some of the important details. A limited […] more »

Six Four Three Two BNSF

Six Four Three Two BNSF

January 17, 2013

It’s difficult to paint a huge engine on a tiny piece of watercolor paper! I chose hot press paper, so the pigments squooshed around a lot — juicy orange! I had to edit the shapes, like the big bold numerals. This engine was idling on the tracks in Albia. I also mixed in some gouache […] more »

Engine 9045

Engine 9045

March 25, 2011

The challenge was to paint this engine in a smaller format, which is very different from my usual work on a large 22 x 30 sheet of paper. It still makes for a great design, with less nitpicking details. It brings back memories when I was very small, Dad used to take me to the […] more »

Union Pacific Engine 9027

Union Pacific Engine 9027

March 17, 2011

This is the second of my train engine watercolors, a side-angled view with lots of details. I was attracted by the yellow of the engine and red stripe and the value pattern of the shadows, and didn’t notice many of the details until I started painting. It is a massive structure and I composed with […] more »