tanks and trucks



SuperSucker Hydro Vac commission. 24" x 36" Acrylic on Canvas



Painting around a big pregnant belly is not always fun. Somehow you end up with multi-coloured blobs of paint across your stomach just below your line of sight. A year ago, while I was expecting Annie, I was asked to do this painting. My paint shirt no longer fit, so I ruined a few shirts before I gave up and switched to an old sweatshirt.

It was a very exciting and challenging project, especially because I had to work with someone else's photos and dramatically alter the surrounding landscape of the truck. The reference photo was taken in a typical construction yard with nothing around but bland gray gravel and a couple of dirt piles. So maybe I romanticized it a bit...

The process is lengthy but fairly simple. Here are a couple pics taken at various stages.

 

Tonal Rendering stage (values painted in one colour)



Photo of myself painting the final stage,
using the reference photos.

 

Detail of Kenwood commission.  Acrylic on Canvas.


 I have painted some trucks before in a large scale work for my Dad's office, but nothing as detailed as the SuperSucker painting. This is a section of that huge painting (see below for full view). The style is more impressionist, partly because the equipment is in the background of the painting, but also because I liked the effect of obvious brushstrokes showing various textures.  I think it helped to keep the subject matter interesting even for construction-illiterates such as myself.

This is a view of the entire painting.

Kenwood commission, 4' x 8'  Acrylic on Canvas.

 Till next time!

Lisa