Only Three Hours Old! A 3 hours old fawn was born in our yard and wandered to another part of our yard, but a much farther away from its mother and its twin. Wow! This fawn already had an obvious Independence Streak. This new born wandered off quite a distance from its mom, while the twin stayed quite close to Mom. They were so darling! I wanted to paint this special story after watching his Momma lick each twin clean? I immediately felt this fawn needed to be painted in this setting in our yard. The largest piece I have painted was 18”x 24”, but I wanted to learn to paint on a larger board. Larger paintings often tell a story better. Painting the splendid aspects of the natural vegetation and also the baby fawn in realistic terms on a larger board would be a great challenge for me. How big a piece should I work on? What would I need that would be different from a smaller painting? I ordered a wooden 24” x 36” Cradled Birch Board. I quickly realized that this size was too large for me to reach across when I laid it flat on a table top. I researched easels and purchased one that would hold larger pieces of wood to paint on in the future. I am not physically able to stand for long periods of time, requiring me to sit and paint at the easel. I realized that I would have a visually different perspective using this large a board on a full-size easel. This is much different than painting a smaller piece propped up or put on a table easel. I had to adjust a lot to determine how I must sit and work with this giant white board vertically in front of me. Acrylic paint can be quite thin for shading and washes. The paint runs or drips a lot when the board is standing up. Other challenges I soon realized were associated with painting a much larger size than in the past. Determining the placement to focus the viewer’s attention and the fawn’s size relative to the large trees and fallen logs is essential. It takes a lot longer than I realized to paint a large piece. It was so engaging to keep seeing the explosion of the story as it became more apparent over time. I wanted to paint it so others could experience the thrill and wonder I felt that bright morning. This allows the viewer to see the new baby, the natural forest setting, the shadows and the bright morning sunlight in realistic terms. And for the viewer to also feel as though they too are right there as it was happening. Barbara Adkins BarbTomAdkinsFineArt.com