Félix de la Concha

Félix de la Concha, speaks about the title for From New Hampshire to Vermont Despite Mumley.

I did not know much about the trains in White River Junction, when I decided to paint them. Before getting started on my first painting, Train for the Weekends , I wanted to know how long the train was going to be there without moving. I knew that I needed several sessions to complete this work, so I wanted to ask right away.

There is a Visitor Center in White River Junction, just near the train, and they told me that this tourist train ran only in the summer on the weekends. The people in the Visitor Center were very exited that an artist was paying attention to the train.

So, everything was going smoothly, and it seemed like I could complete this painting. That is I when I met Marc Francis, the photographers who started to shoot pictures of me as I worked. Marc showed me in such a cool atmosphere. He works as a photographer specialized in crime cases, actually. Cool guy.

Looking around nearby where I was painting, I found another very interesting subject; the railroad tracks from the bridge that connects New Hampshire (NH) with Vermont. After much thought, I started to do the composition for the painting From New Hampshire to Vermont Despite Mumley. As a kind of diary, I painted every panel alla prima, in a single session by the morning light.

After I had completed a few panels, one day I saw someone who works for the railroad coming at me, Mr. Mumley. He told me I could not paint there without permission and kicked me out. But he told me who to ask for permission, some people in Bellow Falls. So, I asked them and the permission was granted. I resumed painting and spent a few days there, until Mr. Mumley came again and asked me to leave.

“But I have permission,” I said.

He replied, “Well, I’ll have to see that, and besides, a train is coming and you have to leave.”

I was indeed very close to the tracks, as you can see in Marc Francis’s photo, Painting the train 2 , but I wasn’t in danger. The train was a freight cargo doing slow maneuvers. I went back to the people in Bellows Falls to explain the situation and my distance from the tracks.

The thing they wanted to know was “If a train comes, will it hit you?”

“I am crazy, but not that crazy. Of course not!” I answered.

Anyways, I went back the next day, and here comes Mr. Mumley on fire and kicking me out with very rude manners. He said that his bosses in Bellows Falls had told him that I was not allowed to be there. I called them back immediately. The one I talked to first was not there. (Afterwards I found out that he had leukemia and was taking many days off.) The other one was furious at me. He said that someone had told him I was painting in the middle of the tracks and that I had betrayed his trust; and since I had acted foolishly, sitting on the tracks to paint, he would no longer allow me to go there at all.

As I did not know this man in person, just his ominous screaming voice, I felt like Adam as God expelled him and Eve from Paradise. That was really depressing. Here I was half way through a composition that really excited me, and I was cast out. No painting. No more access to this painting area which appealed to me for so many reasons.

But then came a solution! It turns out that the jurisdiction of this bridge where I was sitting is divided in such a way that one side belongs to Vermont and the other to New Hampshire. I was sitting on the New Hampshire side. Mr. Mumley and his bosses worked for the other side, Vermont. So, I could continue as long as the people who ran the trains in NH said it was okay.

I talked to the NH person in charge and showed him what I was doing. Permission was granted. I could finish my composition "From New Hampshire to Vermont Despite Mumley”.

Félix de la Concha
February 2009