After the silence and freeze of winter, spring can seem like an explosion of sound and color. Every green imaginable is reflected in my favorite swamps and ponds. The peepers are singing, the birds are flirting, and I want to put the feel of all this exploding life into a painting. It is all about joy and life! Details below. Enjoy.

Technical painting notes: I used a thin black oil paint (reduced with stand oil and mineral spirits) to roll a few broad gestures on the white, primed panel, then used an ebony pencil to draw more details. When this base was dry, I used Liquin glazes over the whole surface, then began blocking in the sky reflections to set the composition and values. From there, it was a process of layering glazes with more pencil drawing, some detailed brush work, and lots of “painting” with my soft rubber rollers. Building the surface and colors with repeated layering of semi-transparent paints allows the painting to almost glow. It’s an old watercolor trick translated into oils with soft brushes and the roller.

The free-form marks suggestive of branches and trees either reflected or bending over the water sets up a syncopated rhythm that I used to suggest the energy of spring.