I was really torn choosing between painting the loader literally or keeping it very dark and mysterious, as it appeared immediately after I painted the sky. My compromise was to exercise restraint and keep most of the yellows on the darker side. I definitely like where things are heading, but the darker, silhouetted look also had promise, so I may have to do a second version of this composition.

The yellow string was based on Cadmium Yellow Medium mixed with Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, and Prussan Blue. The yellow is Royal Talens Cobra and the other colors are Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable.

The snow was really easy to paint – it is dry brushed Titanium White. I dipped the brush directly into the white, then wiped it almost dry with a paper towel. The snow is just sketched in now so that I can understand the composition. The plan is to revisit it to add more intense white highlights.

Here’s the painting in the studio.

The sky and its reflection are in! I’m using Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colors. Water miscible oils do have their downsides, but one thing I like about them is that I can easily go back in and sharpen an edge with a clean, wet brush. The same technique works for regular oils, but the brush needs to be loaded with a solvent like Gamsol. At this point, the horizon and the edges of the reflections below the horizon are soft. All other edges are hard. The sky is a mixture of Prussian Blue and French Ultramarine, lightened with Titanium White.

Now I have to decide what’s next: the yellows of the loader, the mysterious shadows on the dump box, or the bright blue on the cab of the truck?

I’m about 10 hours into this drawing for “Clearing Snow” on a 30″ x 40″ canvas. It is going to be a nocturn so before drawing anything I covered the canvas with Mars Black Golden Heavy Body Acrylic. I’m drawing with a 0.7mm Montana Acrylic paint marker that has been filled with a dark gray mixture. The gray makes the drawing harder to see, but it will be easier to paint over than the white I used in my last nocturne. I am using a 2mm black marker as my “eraser”.

The back wheels on the dumptruck and the gas tank have been reworked in a slightly lighter shade of gray. At this point, I’ve pretty much finished my 6 hour punch list of truck items. Now I will do the punch list for the loader and then I can start painting.

I’ve spent so much time with this drawing that I have a pretty good idea of how I will apply the paint. As with most complex paintings, the challenge is to establish the values early on while not losing the essense of the drawing.

Using the headlights and running lights to establish the lightest lights worked well in “Linemen Working” so I will try that again here. Then I will lay in the blue gradient for the sky and its reflection on the wet ground. The sky is the key to tying together the lights of the loader bucket and the shadow areas of the truck.

Even though the painting is a nocturn, the sky will actually be pretty bright to bring out the silhouette of the truck. At the same time, the sky must be darker than the bucket. Getting this right will probably require the snow in the bucket and the brightest yellows on the loader. After that I will nail down the lightest blue on the dump truck and figure out the values in the light and shadow on the dump box. By then I should have a pretty good idea of how to fill in the rest of the painting.

It’s like a big jigsaw puzzle.

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.

Working again on Linemen Working. Painted the boom red.

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.

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.

My thumbnail for Linemen Working was promising enough to move directly to a 22″ x 28″ canvas. Since the scene is a nocturne, I decided to cover the entire canvas with dark Golden Acrylic before starting. It may be a bit hard to see in the photo below, but the upper left corner is lighter and bluer where the sky is visible, while the trees and road are black. I used Mars Black and Prussian Blue for the background.

I tried transferring the drawing with a Canary Yellow Prismacolor pencil, but found that it wouldn’t stick to the relatively slick acrylic paints. In the end I used an extra fine Shock White Montana Acrylic Marker.