Matt's Railroad Artwork

09/23/2019

I didn’t get to enter my drawing to the Topsfield Fair this year because I was busy and had much success with a completely new medium; wood.

I’ve wanted to get into wood working for a long time and I love the American flag so I combined the two. I made one flag for myself and just for the heck of it, put an ad on Facebook Marketplace.

Little did I know that within the first hour of me posting the ad for rustic wooden flags I would get 6 orders. That was back in June and I recently had to stop taking orders because I was booked all the way to the first week of November. I cut off my orders there because I don’t have an indoor workshop to make flags in during the colder months.

Each flag starts as a single piece of wood. I choose the piece based on wood grain patterns. It’s then cut down to size, sanded and run through a table saw to make the individual stripes. Each stripe is then burned with a torch to pull out the grain and seal the wood. Then staining is next, followed by assembly and then carving. Each star is individually carved by hand into the union. After that, the flags get 3 coats of clear coat for a smooth light gloss finish. A hanger is installed on the back and each flag comes signed.

One of my first flag requests was for a US Army logo flag. Once I made the first one, I started getting orders and requests for other branches of the military. If the person buying the flag was in or previously served in the armed forces, they would get a discount. I also started making police and firefighter flags.

What started as a hobby quickly took off this summer and so although I wasn’t able to finish my drawing, I discovered a new way to be creative while working with my hands. Drawings take me hours upon hours where a flag takes me roughly one week to complete. It was great making these flags for the people who share a love for this country as well as for members of our armed forces past and present and those who serve as first responders.

I haven’t decided yet if this is something I will pursue further but I wanted to share it here with my followers. If I continue with this, I will be taking orders for flags again next spring. If not, it was a great summer!

02/01/2019

Started back up but with a purpose. I’ve made it a goal to submit this piece in this years Topsfield Fair.

06/22/2018

For those wondering where I’ve been, I’ve started a career as a real estate agent. And as a real estate agent, you are basically running a business. I’ve been pretty caught up in that for the past year between getting myself ready financially to quit my 9-5 job, taking my certification classes and studying for the exam to get my license and then working at a brokerage as a full time agent and learning the business. I’m happy to say it’s been a great journey so far and I am really starting to progress.

Tonight for the first time in a long time I felt the desire to sit down and draw. Actually I’ve been feeling it for the past few weeks. And wouldn’t you know but I cannot find my pencils and all the other supplies I use...gonna give it one more good search before I go out and just buy some new ones. But I am really feeling motivated to finish my drawing after all this time and start a new one. I hope to post an update soon!

02/19/2018

If you are into railroad preservation, this is a great opportunity to contribute to saving a historic steam locomotive from being scrapped. This is only 1 of 2 of these ten wheelers left in existence! 503 would have already been in pieces had it not been for the hard rain last week so this truly is a unique opportunity to send this engine to a museum where it will be restored cosmetically and possibly returned to operation. Share this on your wall and donate today! This group is more than halfway to their goal with only a few days remaining!

Be a part of saving the Louisiana & Arkansas 4-6-0 #503 from imminent dismantling in Port Arthur, TX. Asbestos abatement has been completed, and this is a now or never opportunity to be a part of saving it for future display or a return operation. Thanks for your interest in and consideration o...

08/01/2016

Lots of new likes and nothing to show for it! I appreciate everyone's support. Finding the time to draw is difficult and finding the motivation when I have the time is harder! Especially now that I'm working a full time job. I'm going to try to make some improvements to my webstore this week. I'll let everyone know what's new when that happens. Have a great week!

10/16/2015

Work is progressing way too slowly, but it is progressing

06/05/2015

Just to have a little fun and in the process, let all of you know that I'm still here and this page is still active, I thought I'd post a picture of one of my first drawings. This was done in 2003 which would make me... 10/11 years old. I'd also like to thank all of you for the continued support. I have been getting a lot of new likes to this page in the past month or so, I'm now over 200 likes! I'd love to give you guys some solid updates but being fresh out of college, other things have to start taking priority. I will continue to draw when I can and in the meantime, I'll think of something creative I can do for all of you faithful followers.

03/14/2015

So I said there would be an update last week but that was before I knew I lost three of my pencils. Which wouldn't have been a problem but they were the three I use the most. Found them last night as well as my other tools I use when drawing so I started outlining the passenger cars. I'll be on spring break this week and I'm heading to NH for a couple of days with some friends so I'll work on this up there. I'll have an update when I get back!

03/02/2015

Hello everyone! Due to school, I haven't been able to work on my drawing as much as I'd like to. In fact, I haven't had a chance to touch it since last semester. However, due to a recent influx of activity to my page, I feel I owe all of you awesome followers an update. So I will be working on my drawing this week and post an update for all of you. Have an awesome week guys!

01/01/2015

Happy New Years!

10/24/2014

Moving along nicely! About an hour or so left on the locomotive and a couple more on the passenger cars. Then off to the foreground to finish it off! I'm striving to get this done by Christmas which should be easy at this pace

10/06/2014

Hey everyone. I have decided to change the name of my fan page and website from Northeastern Railfan to Matt's Railroad Artwork. I chose this name because it better describes what I do so new members don't have to fish around to find out. Let me know what you think and feel free to share with you friends. I am working on creating a logo as well. I'll keep you all posted and as always, thanks for your interest in my artwork!