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.

Here’s the first thumbnail for Linemen Working.

And this is the setup: