Paintings

Buildings for Littledene

~ andyj82 ~ 1 Comment

For me buildings fall into two categories. Ones I need to model because the railway requires them, like station buildings, goods shed etc and ones I see and think “I’d like to model that”. What I don’t usually do is see a painting and decide I’d like to model it. 
This painting by Veronica Burleigh of a Sussex barn from 1935 has done just that. The barn is possibly near Goodwood in West Sussex where Veronica Burleigh lived most of her life.

And this is my model based on it so far.

Why a chimney was added to this barn is unknown, but some barns had chimneys for stationary boilers to work engines for threshing machines or other farm equipment for example. Others seem to have had forges added to them to make it easier for the visiting farrier to carry out their work and mending farm machinery.

I have also been working on is the station building. This is based loosely on Biddenden and Frittenden on the KESR. It is yet to be weathered and I need to build the gents (no ladies!) to go on one end and the lamp store for the other but I’ll do that once I have built the platform.

Paint me a picture

~ andyj82 ~ Leave a comment

Usually as a modeller when doing research we tend to look at books, photos and if we’re lucky enough some actual 1:1 scale items up close. While researching things for South Heighton cement works I was reminded of some paintings of another cement works up the Ouse Valley.
Cement_Works

Eric Ravilious was an English painter, designer, book illustrator and wood engraver. He was born in London in 1903 and studied at Eastbourne School of Art and the Royal College of Art. His early work is mainly of the countryside in the South East with the odd urban london scene. He later went on to do designs for Wedgwood and became an official war artist during World War II. Unfortunately he was killed in 1942 when the RAF sea rescue plane he was aboard crashed near Iceland.
He used to stay at Furlongs near Lewes and painted lots of local scenes, one of those being the cement works at Rodmell. (Also know as Asham or Beddingham works)

2a02d5b3d85e8815cb4a625faa5afb00--gentileschi-artemisia-engine
eric-ravilious-the-cement-pit-1934

Paintings and modelling are both forms of creative expression and I don’t see why you can’t using paintings as reference material. Paintings may not be as accurate as a photo or scale drawing but they can give you ideas. Its down to these paintings thats some Narrow Gauge will be present on South Heighton and a small 009 layout that I have starting drawing up some plans for.
I’m sure there are a fair few paintings and models based on the same subject matter. Modeller and artist Troels Kirk has taken things a step further by painting a couple of pictures of his models.  Here is the painting and Here is the model.