This is the second painting that I did to use as a submission to try to get into Canada's Federal Habitat Stamp Competition. I completed it over two late nights of painting along with a few hours to plan the composition and transfer the sketch. I took the reference photos at a local duck reserve and wasn't happy with any of the photos themselves, so I took a Drake Mallard out of one of my photos and combined it by flipping him horizontally and merging him in with a Hen Mallard from another photo and removed a few other ducks that were in too close that would have unballanced the composition. It's a bonus to be a graphic designer during the day. Then I printed it out at actual size and transfered the main lines onto canvas with graphite transfer paper. Then spent maybe 6 hours a night for two nights to paint it. So let's say around 15-16 hours total work.