Train whistle blowin’
Makes a sleepy noise
Underneath the blankets
For all the girls and boys
Rockin’ rollin’ ridin’
Out along the bay
All bound for Morningtown
Many miles away
Driver at the engine
Fireman rings the bell
Sandman swings the lantern
To show that all is well
Rockin’ rollin’ ridin’
Out along the bay
All bound for Morningtown
Many miles away
Maybe it is raining
Where our train will ride
All the little travellers
Are warm and snug inside
Rocking, rolling, riding
Out along the bay
All bound for Morningtown
Many miles away
– The Seekers-
A commissioned painting done for someone who holds great affection for this children’s song. Her mum used to sing it to her as a bedtime lullaby and she is now doing the same for her kids.
Commissions for artwork can be very challenging sometimes. I know that people wouldn’t ask me to paint for them, if they didn’t feel that I was up to the task, but still, I worry about all sorts of things, like:
– would they see the painting in the same way as I do?
– have I completely misinterpreted their vision for the piece?
– is the artwork up to scratch?
– is it worth the fee I am asking for?
I think I must suffer from “Imposter Syndrome”. What would it take to make me stop feeling this way?
Anyway, I thought long and hard before putting brush onto canvas for this one. The client had provided me with some thoughts from her children about their impressions of the song. I got the gist that the overwhelming feeling needed to be of happiness and wonder, particularly when morning arrived. Both kids wanted the colours of morning and dawn reflected, I was told,” pinks, purples, blues, yellows, oranges”. How wonderful. I love bright colours, and while I couldn’t really fit that all into the sky, it gave me plenty of scope to put those colours into the rest of the painting. Oh, and I have a thing for birds. So I added the hen in the foreground, and the flock of white birds in the mid-ground. And who wouldn’t want to wake up to a sea of green and brightly coloured flowers in the morning?
It’s one of my favourite pictures.
