It’s spring! That means light out later, and warm enough to paint without freezing my fingers.

The first time painting after I haven’t painted in a while is always difficult. I’ve learned to not get overly ambitious and to start back in again with a small piece, in this case a 6″ x 6″ canvas. But I haven’t fully absorbed the other key lesson: pick a simple subject.

This year I went down to the creek and saw the beautiful way the sunlight was hitting this stand of sycamores on the bank. Capturing the complex layered branches of bare sycamore trees in the evening sun is NOT a simple subject. Nevertheless after a few nights cleaning it up in the studio I’m satisfied with the end result.

The next piece is a new spot for me off of Rt 2. I’m always keeping an eye out for pull-offs or places to park that allow me to get access to a view. This is one I’ve had my eye on for a while and only just now got a chance to try. It was a really incredible spot.

I had brought a much wider canvas along which was a good choice for the location. A bigger canvas can be tricky because you need to mix more paint so you spend longer just mixing paint and it takes longer to cover the canvas. It adds up to less detail into the image in the time you have before the lighting changes, especially in the evening when the lighting changes fast.

In this case, I’m satisfied with the general blocking in of the painting even though it looks a little chaotic at this stage. As long as I can keep the color harmony and the large shapes similar to the way they look now, much can be done in the studio to really make this a nice piece. Pleased to have found another spot within close driving distance that I can go back to again and again.

Meanwhile, back in the studio… Something I’ve always been dissatisfied with is how to get a nice flat high gloss finish as the last layer in a painting. I love the way that it deepens the darks and increases the total color range of acrylics -which do have a more limited range than oil paints – but the mediums I’ve tried always leave brush strokes. Epoxy is a visually ideal solution but is challenging, more toxic, and also a truly final step: you can’t ever paint over it. Just recently I found this alternative solution which is high gloss pourable acrylic. It has similar optical clarity to epoxy and forms a thick self-leveling coat with a high gloss. It has the added advantages that it’s much less toxic, and it is still an acrylic film, so there’s no reason you can’t continue painting over top of it. I took a few pieces from late last summer and trialled this out and I’m very pleased with the results. It’s a little nerve-wracking since it goes on milky white and looks like you’re completely covering your painting, but it seems to be drying well.

Last but not least, it’s always fun to keep the doodles going. Here are some since last post, from the coffee shop as well as some from various reference footage that I like to use to practice drawing people.

That’s all for now folks. Thanks for reading and subscribing!