Finished painting: At last! It was a hard slog but is now done. After finishing the reedy flotsam I added a bit more refinement to the trees; added some twigs sprouting from the tree trunks; put in a few standing reeds and painted the teal. The painting will look better once varnished as this will bring out some contrast, deepen the dark areas and enrich the colours a bit. This painting will be in my one-man show at the Wildlife Art Gallery in November (see 'Events' page)

Stage 7 - detail.

Stage 7: I'm part way through 'finishing' the floating reed flotsam. This is a hard slog and the most tedious, boring part of this painting to do. I knew when I first had the idea that it would be hard going, and I was right! I try to keep the the thought in mind that the finished picture will be worth it. Let's hope so!

Stage 6: I've finished roughing in the floating reed stems and now I have a better idea of how the colours are working. This has only taken a day to do and I now have to go back over this area adding a bit more substance and finish to the floating vegetation. Although from a distance it may look fine as it is, closer inspection will show that it is still rather crudely done.

Stage 5: I was unhappy with the random pattern of floating reeds - it made the composition look too static. Reference photos showed that the reeds actually seemed to be arranged more in drifts so I decided to introduce a flow to the pattern to lead your eye up from the bottom of the picture towards the bird. Here I have started roughly blocking in this new pattern, more-or-less obliterating what I had done before with more opaque paint. I'm using this process to introduce more of the intended final colours to the painting.