Ted Rose, 61; Artist Whose Locomotives Were Put on Stamps

Ted Rose, 61, a watercolor artist whose five images of Depression-era streamlined locomotives were printed on 33-cent postage stamps issued in 1999, died of cancer July 26 in Santa Fe, N.M.

Rose, who was known for realistic watercolor portrayals of 20th century American landscapes and industrial culture, had been commissioned by the U.S. Postal Service to create five original designs for its “All Aboard!” stamp series.

Rose worked almost exclusively in watercolor, and many of his paintings echoed railway themes. Two years ago, Indiana Press published his book “In the Traces: The Railroad Paintings of Ted Rose.”

The Milwaukee-born Rose majored in fine arts at the University of Illinois. Drafted into the Army in 1963, he spent a year in South Vietnam as a military policeman.

He moved to Santa Fe in 1966 and worked for the city as a mapmaker and self-described graphic jack-of-all-trades before becoming a freelance graphic designer in the 1980s. In 1989, he quit to devote himself full time to painting.