When I captured the photo, I knew instantly that I had to paint the beautiful skyline of Manhattan over the East River. The view of being there is absolutely stunning. I had to paint everything really dark so that those reflections of light would contrast and show up. This one went through some transformations as I took the experimental route trying alternative color palettes and values of light.  Once the underpainting is dry, it's easy enough to experiment because if it doesn't work I can wipe it off and try once more. If the underpainting isn't dry, all the paint would turn to mud, Which would probably be okay since it's the East River, full of mud.