A Green Heron, perched on a branch over the water, is avidly watching for his breakfast to appear. The mangroves offer him some camouflage from above. The sky and mangrove are reflected in the still water. Every morning on my walk I see this little guy as I pass by on the boardwalk above, and marvel at his concentration. It was easy for me to capture several reference photos from a few feet away.

By digitally combining and editing my photos, I created a reference. After masking the bird shape, I poured paint and worked wet-into-wet to create the background. Then I removed the mask and carefully painted the heron and added some detail using a paintbrush.