Here are a few ideas I have been working on. These are all close up photos of die cast models lit with LED headlamps. The running lights and headlights were added in Photoshop.
Tag Archives: atelier
Clearing Snow
Just started a new truck nocturne. This one pairs a 1/32 scale Peterbilt Model 379 dump truck from New Ray with a 1/50 scale Norscot Caterpillar 980G Wheel Loader. These die cast models were purchased from EBay, but 3000Toys seems to be a good source for inexpensive die cast models. First Gear, New Ray, Norscot, and SpecCast make models with really fine detail.
For my purposes it doesn’t matter that the loader scale don’t match up with the dump truck because no one knows how big the loader is supposed to be and its smaller size actually lends to a sense of forced perspective.
The trucks sit on a sheet of clear 1/8″ acrylic over a piece of black paper. The acrylic gives good wet-pavement reflections. The snow is white Kinetic Sand from Michaels. Lighting is from a variety of LED headlamps and button lights. The backdrop is a piece of black foam core, but it appears blue in the light of the headlamps.
October 21, 2015
Painted all of the chrome toolboxes, grill work, and bumpers. Fixed the shape of the ellipse on the transformer. Now I need to work on the surface of the road and then add details, highlights, and glare. Starting to think about my next composition.
October 17, 2015
This evening I painted the cab of the truck.
My string was based on Cadmium Red Medium, brightened with Cadmium Yellow Medium and the tiniest amount Titanium White and darkened with Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Umber, and Prussian Blue. I mixed six steps initially, and then created the intermediates on the palette with the brush as I painted.
In the next session I will tackle the grays that make up the chrome on the truck and the surface of the road. Then I plan to go back and work on the reflections – sharp ones in the puddles and more diffuse ones elsewhere. Once the truck is dry, I will go in with a liner brush and add the grooves around the doors and various access panels on the boom and create halos around the lights.
October 14, 2015
Working again on Linemen Working. Painted the boom red.
The Jetty
Here’s a mockup of another linemen idea. In this case, they are working on a jetty, fixing the power lines to the lighthouse.
Coffee Cup
Started a new painting at school. 9″ x 12″ oil on panel.
Highlight
The word of the week at school is “Highlight”.
October 11, 2015 – Evening Session
I’ve switched from acrylics to water miscible oils and spent the evening roughing in the yellows. The composition should really start to come together tomorrow as I block in the reds and grays.
October 11, 2015
After transferring the drawing, I began to establish the lightest lights and the darkest darks, still working in acrylic. I also added a layer of texture to the trees and the sky.
