Light on The Water

My sister in law just took up photographer, and while showing me her new shots near her pond, I spotted this one for the light.
In my Reddi Arts class, I did a demo to show how I would handle this theme.  First I wanted to emphasize grasping the lyrical lines in the composition to make it more interesting.

Where you see the whites I had put masking fluid, this pic was taken after I had color washed the piece, then removed it.

Next I wanted to put a nice colorful swath inside the white zone 

with tiny bits of peach showing as reflected sunset light on the water. After that is 

dry it is time to add foreground details, grasses etc, and a light preliminary coat

of color on the egret.  I try to keep the plant details "flat" so that they feel open as 

color field spaces, rather than tightly detailed "leaves". 

Below: The final product.  I gave the painting to Jan for Christmas!