Recently, I decided that a smartphone was not adequate for taking bird photos, so I decided to buy a DSLR (Canon) with an extender lens (until I can afford a real telephoto). I then became a bird stalker. Specifically, I began stalking one of the egrets who stays around a nearby marsh.
Day by day, as I drove by, camera at the ready, I tried to get close to this egret, who I fondly named “Henry”. I would see him on the marshland, staring at me, as if begging me to take his photo. But like most egrets, Henry is quite shy, and merely stopping my car was enough to make him (and his friends) take off. He had a large “bubble” around himself, and resented any attempts to catch him.
Finally, though, one day I caught him unawares. I was able to catch a poor-quality photo of him, but good enough to put his portrait to canvas.
Henry happened to be looking away, in pursuit of something interesting on the marsh, so I grabbed the opportunity.
I love painting marshes and wetlands, which is one reason I enjoy painting waterbirds. Here in North Michigan, egrets, herons and Canadian Geese abound, so I will probably be painting quite a few over the summer.
8 responses to “Egret in Wetlands: acrylic painting”
Absolutely sublime and magnificent painting!!! 😍 I love so much the waterbirds! Where I live there are many species of waterbirds such as pink flamingos, herons, I love these!
I sending you a link where you can see the species of waterbirds who lives in my territory 😃
http://www.sardegnadigitallibrary.it/index.php?xsl=602&s=17&v=9&c=4461&c1=uccello+acquatico&n=24&nodesc=2&xctl=1&mtd=164&tab=4
Ely, These are absolutely beautiful and am glad to know that you love birds, too. I love herons too; there is a blue heron I am trying to get a reference photo of; I have also seen some tundra swans on Lake Huron. Thank you for sharing this link.
Thank you infinitely from my heart to you too!!! 😃🥰🙏♥️
Beautiful painting. I love the colors you used for the grass.
Stunning painting, beautiful work! This is the type of area I love to hang around, to enjoy and photograph birds and nature too. 😊
Thank you Heli and Dona for your kind comments.
Nice Egret painting. I really like how you created the effect of fog in the painting. Egrets really are a hard bird to photographs without a telephoto lens. I have a high zoom point and shoot camera that is almost like an SLR. It has been a very good camera and I dont have to worry about all kinds of lenses.
Shawn, what type of camera do you use? I am still learning about photography that goes beyond a smartphone 🙂