The Original Painting canvas size is 12x16 Inches.

I use the highest quality artist oil paint on studio-wrapped stretched linen canvas.

THE ORIGINAL PAINTING IS FRAMED AND READY TO HANG IN YOUR HOME OR OFFICE.

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The Story of “Contrasts on the Paoli Line”

The one thread that I “sew” into my work is the many similarities & contrasts of humans as we work, play, and go about everyday life. Gender, race, education, background, culture, income. We are all so different in so many ways. Yet, we all live on the same earth, and do the best we can at getting along.

One day, while riding the local Septa Regional Rail into Center City Philadelphia, I spotted an older gentleman, by chance, seated next to a young woman. Both of my subjects in this painting are accomplishing the same goal: traveling unaccompanied to their destination via train and engrossed in their respective reading materials to make the travel time go faster. The compare & contrasts are fun to conjure.

Compare & Contrast

As a college art student, I loved art history class. Compare & Contrast is a standard technique to analyze artwork. Here’ some of my thoughts on “Contrasts on the Paoli Line.”

Age - it’s pretty obvious the young vs old contrast. The age difference is the explanation for most of the other contrasts.

Clothing - I am guessing the young woman boarded the train many stops prior to the older gent and that is why she is not wearing her coat in January! I am guessing she has stowed her coat in the overhead.

Technology - An obvious contrast is the newspaper vs the mobile device, or print vs digital. The gentleman is reading my favorite newspaper, “The Philadelphia Inquirer. It is a mystery to us what the young woman is reading because she has access to the entire world wide web with that one mobile device. We refer to the reading materials differently also. One says, “I’m reading the newspaper.” But, no one ever says, I’m reading the mobile device!  Ha, that sounds really weird!! More like "I'm checking my email or FB, or IG." The young woman is reading her own specialized experience because our mobile devices allow us to to be our own editor-in-chief. A newspaper is published each day and it’s the same experience for all those that read it!

Also - take note to how both the young woman and the older gent are identically clutching their travel accessories - the large leather bag and the disposable bottle of water.

Anyway, you can imagine your own "Compare &Contrasts" in this painting - when you start to really think about it, it can be endless!

I hope enjoy thinking about this contrasting tableaux. I had to paint it. I had to share it. Please enjoy it as much as I enjoy creating it. Let me know!

I take every step to ensure this online image is as accurate as possible to the original painting. However variations in color may occur due to monitor differences.