Full on spring is here, and with it those few precious months where the sun is up for at least an hour after the little guy’s bedtime. So time to make the most of it!

This is the Sand Lake Walking Trail. It’s a wonderful series of trails with pretty diverse land types. It’s awesome to have places like this – public land with access – minutes away when you’re trying to get a painting done in the evening, so I appreciate the town and folks involved in making it available.

We went hunting for morels today (and found them!) so dead trees are on the mind and this one (although not an Elm) jumped out at me. It was much taller than the surrounding trees so I knew it would catch the last of the light as the sun set and probably look quite cool.

I also knew that the long shadows across the grass that define the foreground of the painting – which also caught my eye – would be the first to disappear as the sun dropped. So I painted those quickly, as soon as the rough in and sky were done. By the time I got this photo of my spot the really striking sun highlights on the grass had faded out.

It’s no masterpiece but it always feels great to get outside and paint.

I’ll let this painting sit in the studio now, and look it over whenever I come in and out of the house. After a few days I’ll have a better idea where I want to take it as I finish it up in the studio.