Jack Snipe Rising 1931

Archibald Thorburn made this image of a Jack Snipe rising, in 1935, with watercolour. Look at how Thorburn makes this bird so alive with delicate touches of brown, ochre, and white. You can tell he really watched this bird and tried to capture it’s movement with quick marks, and by layering the colours. The way he builds the bird’s body with such translucent layers of colour is really lovely; and, just look at how he catches the feeling of light reflecting on the open water. There is real attention to detail here, especially in the feathery textures of the bird’s plumage which he achieves with tiny precise dabs of paint. But it's not too fussy. Thorburn’s artistic ancestry can be traced back to earlier wildlife painters like Audubon, but there is something distinct about his way of seeing the world, his attention to the small and easily missed details in nature. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide what he was trying to say.