The Colors of Autumn

9/25/19 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Fall is here, and that means city utilities are scrambling to get projects done before the worst of the wet weather sets in. As you’ve seen, I’ve been having a heyday sketching heavy machinery, but lately it’s been big ones just taking up parking spaces, not in action.

A few days ago, I had an opportunity to step up the challenge. Just a half block from home on busy Fifth Northeast, a big hole was in the street, and an excavator was moving rubble from the hole to a dump truck. After sketching several of these, it’s always fun to see one in action, because all the parts moving repeatedly make it easier to understand what I’ve drawn before. Even the stationary parts suddenly make sense. For example, I’ve drawn the pairs of slim yellow things folded up on parked excavators, but I didn’t realize until I made this sketch that they are actually “legs” (in front) stabilizing the machine – and that the wheels are elevated to keep from rolling.

The workers were faster than I expected: 25 minutes after I started this sketch, they were done and, thankfully, so was I.