Jacaranda 2013, Makawao, Maui, School Crossing

Day 3 painting, 9am to 11:10. It was windy today but sunny.

TIP: when painting trees it's like painting a human, the trunk and the main branches are the bones, paint them in first. Then the foreground foliage. Then the smaller branches. Last the background foliage and finish up the small branches. Mark the time so all the shadows are the same.
In this painting the sun was traveling from 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock and I was positioned at 6 o'clock. That made the shadows change the fastest in my view. All of this was happening with the sun about 100º from the horizon line so I was getting the full effect of the moving shadows from 9 to 11 am. From 11 to 12 the sun is pretty much directly overhead and from my position hiding the shadows. This is when the tree is most brilliantly lit up. I moved the starting time back from 10 am to 9 am, more sun, less wind.

It was raining a little when we left, at 10:45 it was raining hard enough to leave. Windshield wipers on for the drive home.
I got the back of the tree in, finished the foreground purple blooms, added some to the big bush. Tomorrow I work on the branches and the foreground bush. My painting is wet, all over from the rain.
Tonight I should white in the railing, poles and stop sign to give them straight edges. Remember, it takes two coats of white to cover completely. Don't add any color if your not on location.
When I got home and the painting was dry I noticed the dried rain drops left an iridescent color film on the painting instead of drying clear. The iridescence wash off.

Day 6, 9 to 10:30, 5-27-13, It was sunny when I got here at 9am, by 10 the sun was gone and I didn't want to add any of the wrong color so we left. The stop sign was moved to a view more to the left so it wouldn't be centered in the tree trunk. I think when I set up it was there and I moved to be in another trees shade. The tree is losing a lot of the flowers, I'm glad I got them in already.

TIP: One of my 1/2" blitz fitch brushes has worn down too much so I filed a grove 1/8" down from the top of the ferrule all the way around with a small triangle file. Removing the extra piece and washing the brush in alcohol gave me a new brush. Badger hair brushes don't last as long as a sable brushes but they paint well.

Day 7, 5-28-13, no sun at 8:00, 8:50 there was sun, 9:10 painting on location. At 10:53 started to drizzle so I packed up, wipers on. Worked on the bush and railing, added some branches and wires and trees across the road. It was a good hour and a half.

Day 8, 5-29-13, 9 to 11am, one hour sun. It was a good day, moved the background trees farther back with arial perspective. Started working on the road. I don't have to be on location to white out mistakes, I can fill in the background colors at home to get ready for tomorrow. It takes 2 coats of white or the lower color will show through. With mastic oils, which are more dense but not as fluid, the next day you can just over-paint. WN acrylic colors are a bit more heavily pigmented than Liquitex paint but nothing beats the Liquitex white "jar" fluid paint for general work.

Day 9, 8:45 to 9:15, one hour sun, worked on road, background trees, branches. The tree has 50% less flowers on it now. For the exact detailed work like the yellow wire guard for the telephone pole and the lines in the road I used chalk first, brushed it off with a feather so there would be no chalk clumps and painted them in with white paint twice first.
I met Julia yesterday, we are going to paint the jacarandas by the library, I should finish this one tomorrow. I want to paint the next one in the after noon. The light is more steady, less clouds. It was great getting the bright white morning light for this one though. I just have to add some leaves in the bush and do the branches.

Day 10, 9 to 11, 45 minutes of sun but I didn't need any new color so I could finish up.

We didn't paint in the afternoon, 8 Am tomorrow morning is scheduled.
I was sunny, the trees shade left where I was sitting. I did a fast watercolor so tomorrow I'll move so the shade stays with me.