DA25006 Railway Artist - Rob Rowland V01 260925

Overview

• Name / Title: Rob Rowland, GRA (Guild of Railway Artists) 

• Base: Gloucester (UK) 

• Speciality: Railway and landscape paintings (steam & historic rail scenes) 

Background & Career

• Grew up in the Midlands in the 1950s–60s, surrounded by industrial heritage: cobbled streets, railway viaducts etc. 

• Studied at Gloucestershire College of Arts & Technology. 

• Worked in picture restoration, then as a freelance graphic designer. Later employed by a national brewery doing art/design, including traditional inn signs. 

• He became particularly interested in railway art while working on themes for the GWR 150th anniversary project. 

• Officially became a member of the Guild of Railway Artists in 1987, and he’s been painting professionally since around 1990. 

Style, Subjects & Approach

• His work often evokes historic railway scenes: steam locomotives, old stations, crossings, freight and passenger trains in settings of industrial Britain. 

• Atmosphere and mood are important: twilight, night, mist, crossings, seasonal effects etc. 

• Though real places are often used (e.g. Gloucester, Weekday Cross Junction in Nottingham), there is sometimes imaginative or composite liberty in the scenes. 

Affiliations & Recognition

• Member of the Guild of Railway Artists (GRA) 

• Works exhibited at various railway-and heritage related gatherings, and shows. (E.g. model railway shows, steam festivals) 

If you want, I can find his most important exhibitions, where to see his originals, or catalogues of all his works. Do you want that?