I did a plein air 18x24 painting in oils the previous Spring of the melting ice at the edge of our pond. I liked it so much, I decided to do a large painting which included the hill behind our pond. I blocked it in over the winter using the smaller painting for color notes and photos of the hill. The next Spring, I took out a studio easel and held it down with concrete blocks and finished the large painting completely en plein air.