My preliminary sketch was for a blue heron but when I started painting the blue heron wanted to be camouflaged in the river bank that I observed on a recent fishing trip. So to make it visible enough for a small stamp, the bird became a greater egret. Then I had an accident. A tube of paint fell to the floor unnoticed. My big foot squeezed an inch of permanent white gouache on the floor. Scraped form the floor the white became a splash. Only egrets do not swim and spash so much when they take off. Egrets do not swim that way. They just wade. The bird then became a swan. Checking the internet for head and feet is not the spirit of actual observation.
My preliminary sketch was for a blue heron but when I started painting the blue heron wanted to be camouflaged in the river bank that I observed on a recent fishing trip. So to make it visible enough for a small stamp, the bird became a greater egret. Then I had an accident. A tube of paint fell to the floor unnoticed. My big foot squeezed an inch of permanent white gouache on the floor. Scraped form the floor the white became a splash. Only egrets do not swim and spash so much when they take off. Egrets do not swim that way. They just wade. The bird then became a swan. Checking the internet for head and feet is not the spirit of actual observation.
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