Train Tracks (2008 Portfolio)

The portfolio format of Train Tracks allows Dylan to explore the same railway subjects under varied conditions: dawn light, midday sun, storm clouds, and a setting sun. His watercolour technique emphasises the changing relationship between steel tracks and natural environment throughout different times and seasons, giving three-dimensional form to the shapes without making them too defined.

The series demonstrates his interest in how industrial infrastructure fits within natural environments, but also how it can be a thing of beauty in itself, representing both personal relationships with specific locations and broader themes of American progress. Each print maintains focus on the tracks themselves, affording very little detail to the stations and houses, emphasising the permanent pathways that enable movement rather than their surroundings or the temporary vehicles that use them. Painted over a series of weather conditions, the portfolio demonstrates his belief that thorough artistic documentation requires sustained attention over time, revealing aspects of familiar subjects that single works cannot capture. This approach reflects his touring musician's understanding of how the same landscape can appear completely different under changing conditions of light, weather, and season.