"Spur" of the Moment

This watercolor was painted on location at Louisiana, Missouri on a cool and sunny October Day (10/18/08).    A little history and background information is needed first before I explain the title.  Two railroads run through the town of Louisiana.  At one time, these lines were owned by the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy (today BNSF), and the Chicago & Alton (today KCS).  These line cross each other just south of this location and the track shown in this painting was a junction track that connected the CB&Q with the C&A.  In the past, these two railroads would interchange cars with one another using this track.  Today, the track is used as a spur track to store cars for the BNSF.     

The title for the this painting is a play on words pertaining to this location and how I arrived at this spot.  I had been driving up MO highway 79 looking for a place to paint.  I had a location in mind in the town of Old Monroe, Missouri, but when I got there, nothing really grabbed my attention.  I continued driving north to Clarksville, Missouri and took some reference photos for a future painting(s).  Again, nothing really grabbed my attention.  I decided to keep driving north to Louisiana, Missouri.  As a I came into town, I noticed an old depot located on the KCS line.  I thought about doing a painting of the depot, but I didn’t see any good spots to set up my easel out of the direct sunlight.  I noticed a road a little north of the depot and turned onto it to get a reference photo of the old, weathered structure.  As I looked around, I noticed a metal building and a hopper car located on the spur track that ran toward the depot.  I also noticed an old, unused sidewalk under the shade of a couple of huge trees---a perfect place to set up my easel out of the direct sunlight.  As I studied the scene, I noticed a water line mark on the old, metal building that was placed there by the recent flooding of the Mississippi River over the past summer.  The hopper car’s wheels and coupler had a fresh coating of rust on them, and I wondered if it had been sitting there when the flood waters covered this location.    I suddenly realized this scene was it, the one I needed to paint!  The location, setting, and timing all came together at the “spur of the moment!”

D. Tom Conboy