The Anatomy of a Painting

I have been asked many times: "How long does it take you to do a painting?"  So for those that have wondered I have added this page. 


I was called and asked if I could do a painting of a locomotive that was never built.  As I had done this many times before there was no problem with the idea.  I was sent the builders drawings of the locomotive.  It is of an ALCO C636P or the Passenger version of the C636.  The designers at ALCO put a cowling on the locomotive and put a steam generator in the unit.  My client thought it looked "rad" and wanted to see how it would look as a Southern Pacific unit.

This is the sketch I came up with as to how the C636P would have looked.  I chose the area of the Pequop mountains of eastern Nevada.  The time of year would be spring.  Talking with the client we figured that the locomotive would be in the 6070 series.  I first drew the locomotive as per the plans but as most SP locomotives had snowplows, I quickly roughed one in to see how it would look.   


This is the first day of work.  Mainly it is just placing the locomotive and train in the space that the client dictates in this case 14" x 28."  I also lightly sketch in the background profile from photos of the area the train is running.

Day 2:  The paint starts to fly.  I also thought that since the SP had a unique light package, that I would add it to the front of the locomotive.  At this stage I had planned to have the train be #22 which was an eastbound mail train that ran from Oakland to Ogden.


Day 3:  Most of the background is in except for the upper lefthand corner.  The scenery is mostly roughed in but as it is a watercolor I need to get it right the first time.  I add the shadows and tree lines to hilight the train.


Day 4: I start on the locomotive.  As I am making something that was never built I needed to check how other SP units wore the paint scheme and also how other ALCO Century series locomotives had the intakes and lovers arranged.  I also was looking at ALCO PAs and EMD FP 45s for ideas for the cowling.

Day 5:  The locomotive takes shape but needs to be refined.  I also got a call from the client stating he wanted me to put a dome in the consist.  Therefore the train went from #22 to #28 the Overland Limited.

Day 6:  The locomotive was going along fine and I threw some color in the back to see how the train would look, with the dome.

Day 7:  The locomotive is close to the final set up before it can be lettered.  I did turn the lights on however.  I also didn't like the way the train in the back looked so I moved the cars around.  This looked better to me but there was still much detailing I needed to do and the background in the upper corner was starting to knaw at me.

Day 8:  I finished the train and the foreground. I even finished the upper left hand corner! The client wanted exhaust which I added but did not want the signal line pole at the left of the painting.  The client wanted the marker lights to be on depicting a "first" section of the train.  I chose the locomotive numbers to be 6074 lead unit and 6071 as the trailing unit.

Day 9:  This is the finished painting.  Darks touched up, lettering touched up, scenery touched up, signal pole gone and my signiture added.   Done!



Oil
I was asked if I could put up an oil painting along with the watercolor above.
I had always wanted to paint one of D&RGW F-81 2-10-2s someplace on Soldier Summit.   I found good photos of the locomotives and off I went.


Day 1: Sketch out the locomotive and the area where I want the train to be located.  This location is just below Soldier Summit on the westside.  The train is climbing a 2% grade.
The canvas size is 18"x 24"

 
Day 2:  I threw color in the sky and started working on the mountains.  I wanted this to be an Autumn painting to add color to the area I am painting.


Day 3:  I have progressed on the scenery and I like the color on the hills.  I don't like the sky so I will have to change that.  The white spots on the painting are the reflection of the flash on the wet oil.


Day 4:  I decided to change the sky, adding more excitement to it. I wanted the shadow from the clouds to play over the landscape.  I also changed the mountian in the back  adding snow to the top from an early fall storm.   


Day 5:  I like the way the sky looks now and I was able to start putting some color on the locomotive.  I also had to change the mountian in the back as I had one of the peaks too high.  


Day 6:  This was a short day (had to go to the dentist). Put the piping on the locomotive and added a little more detail in the background.


Day7: Oil paint dries slowly.  I added the smokebox front and touched up the boiler.



Day 9:  The oil was too wet and the flash bounched off the area I had completed.   I did the firebox and the drivers as well as the elesco pump and piping under the running board.


Day 10:  Now we are cookin'.  Clyinders, siderods, valve gear, and the pilot have been added.   The tender and the rest of the train is blocked in.


Day 11:  The tender is finished and the cars have detailed added. The shadows are deep-end under the locomotive.  The left side of the train gets some scenery.



Day 12:  Track!  Everytime I do a painting I know I am going to spend about three days to make the track look like it should.  Even in watercolor this takes a few days and in oil it is a nightmare.  If the track looks bad the whole painting looks bad.  


Day 13:  Still working on track but also get to play with the foreground while I let the track dry a little more so I can work on it.
 

Day14:  The track is done and I have ballast on it.  I have also lettered the locomotive and cars.   I don't like the rocks in the foreground and I am not too hip on the way the aspens look.


Day 15: The beauity of oil is I can change things as I go along. I also fixed the aspens.  I also brought the helper locomtive to life and added the steam from the dynamo over the cab. There is an engineer in the cab now too.


Day 16:  The foreground is done and I have brought the locomotive to life.  The painting is done except for touch ups.


Day 17:  The painting is finished or so I thought.  As I looked at the painting I wanted to pop the smoke box front out more than it is.  I also found a photo of the engineer's side of the 1406.  I have the running board wrong and need to fix some piping.


Day 18:  The running board is now correct and the shadow added to bring out the aspens and the front of the locomotive.  Ya gotta love it.  Done! 

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