Before Photoshop

Claude was overcome with joy when he stumbled upon a scene so reminiscent of his beloved water garden at Giverny that his heartbeat quickened and he was compelled to linger.

The blue-green dragonflies were flitting about just above water level, admiring themselves in the glassy surface. So enchanted was he that he hardly noticed the boggy rim and the cloud of hungry mosquitoes that erupted from it. Not even when they commenced feasting did it faze him or dim his enthusiasm.

He whipped out his trusty Canon SD1100 to take a few reference photos for a new canvas he was anxious to start on. Upon playback, he was dismayed to discover the presence of an unsightly, yellow silt fence. He zoomed closer to crop it out but lost the beautiful cattails, curved shoreline and distant line of reeds in the process.

Irritated, he put the camera away and moved on. He would just have to not paint it in, he supposed.