Pheasants 1918

Archibald Thorburn painted these Pheasants, and just look at how he has handled the watercolor, so delicately and precisely rendered. I can almost see him there, with his brushes and pots of pigment. He's building up those layers, letting them dry, then coming back in. It is like a dance of observation and transcription. The soft, blended edges create a feeling of naturalism. There’s a real tenderness towards capturing their likeness, you know? Like he’s inviting us into a private moment, these birds camouflaged and hunkered down. The paint is thin and transparent, so that it almost glows from within, creating such gentle gradations of tone. There is a kinship between painters across time, and in our own ways we’re all inspired by observation, working between control and accident. There is something so beautiful about this kind of looking and responding. It’s a form of embodied expression, and I think it leaves so much room for interpretation.