Year after year I attempted to photograph flowering trees where Goldfinch might be found, and year after year was unsuccessful because of rain, rain, and more rain. Finally a nice day came along when the timing of the sunlight was perfect to photograph what I had envisioned for this painting. While sorting through the hundreds of shots I took, I found a few that satisfied my imagination. After days of manipulating the blooms and light, I finally achieved what I had envisioned, minus the goldfinch. But since I had already taken him into consideration at my conception stage, he was rather easy to add.