Day 21 - Commemorative painting for the Riverfront Credit Union

Last night I presented a commission that was several months in the making.  The Riverfront Credit Union headquartered in Reading, PA was holding their 800th board meeting and several of the members/board members hired me to create a painting to commemorate this event.  The painting shows the credit union's history as it was originally founded by the members of the Reading Railroad.  After time, other organizations were acquired, starting with Conrail, then Amtrak.  There were many other acquisitions after that, too numerous to list, but the credit union finally settled on the Riverfront as their name.
The painting has many references to the credit union's history, including these names put on the engine and rail cars.  The caboose's number indicates the date of the meeting (1-20-15).  The city in the background is the town of Reading, PA as it is today.  I must say, this was one of the more challenging parts of the painting as I had to cobble together many different photo references from the web to create this panorama.  The view of Reading is looking West from atop Neversink Mountain roughly at a location known as the Witch's Hat.  The Pagoda, an historic landmark of Reading can be seen atop Mt. Penn on the right side of the painting.  The people who commissioned me also wanted to include Berks  County's rich farming history, hence the rolling hills and farm land receding into the background.  Finally, the sun is rising on the horizon, to symbolize Riverfront's new beginnings in the 21st century.
The frame was also made by myself and my husband and I am quite happy with how it compliments the painting.  Under the painting is a plaque that lists the current board and upper management.  This was a long time in the making, but I have to say that I love creating historical paintings such as this. Through researching the history of the credit union I learned so much about the Reading Railroad, which was huge in it's time as well as the history of Reading itself!

Commemorative Painting for the Riverfront Credit Union, oil on canvas, 18" x 36"
Sold

Commemorative Painting for the Riverfront Credit Union, Unframed

Working on a Commission

I have recently been commissioned to create a commemorative painting for a Credit Union in the Reading Area. For every commission I do, I feel honored and humbled that people like my work enough to ask me to realize an idea for them that they have floating around in their brain.  Doing commissions present a unique set of challenges but also opportunities for me to learn about and paint subject matter that I may not have other wise chosen.  For this latest one, I was asked to include some specific things, such as a train from the Reading Railroad, the city of Reading some Berks Co. farmland and, of course, the Pagoda.   The pic below is the initial sketch I submitted for review.  I chose to do the sketch in watercolor and decided to go a bit further and make it a rather finished sketch. If approved, I will move forward with the final painting!

Reading PA, (sketch for Riverfront Credit Union commission), 12" x 24", watercolor