I hope this doesn’t upset any of you but the painting doesn’t look exactly like the photo that inspired me. I took a bit of “artistic license.”

On the top is the original photograph. I took four or five photos and picked this one to go by. The others were handy for reference. Next is the blank canvas with my charcoal sketch of where I wanted things to be. I envisioned a few minor changes; for example, I replaced the brown egret with the white one from the shore.

Then we have the initial stage of the painting. Obviously, I enhanced the color. Acrylic paints dry fast so I generally work top left to bottom right just like I would in a drawing. I go back later after it’s dry to add detail or touch up.

And finally, on the bottom, the finished painting.