Green Heron, Watercolor

This next project is being painted with permission from the photographer, Peggy Coleman. A good friend of mine saw this award winning photo on line and asked if I could paint it for her. It is a green heron. They are not very big, but from this photo and the way the wings are spread out, you would think they are enormous.

I have had several people mention that they liked seeing the progression of the painting like I did with my painting of Canal St. So, I have decided to keep doing it.

Here is what I have so far.

It took me a while to mask out all those feathers to keep those beautiful light highlights that they are know for. And the green water with the reflective ripple effect... not my strong suit. 

But, I think its pretty darn good so far. 

Update: 1/25/16

I finished this painting this past weekend. Here is the project in pictures...

I started by practicing painting feathers...

Here is the sketch with the liquid mask on the white part of the wings.

I started with the green "Swampy"water background.

First layer of color on the bird...

Darker layer of color...

Mask removed, details touched up, and signed.