Jack Snipe 1933

Archibald Thorburn painted this Jack Snipe, likely with watercolor, back in 1933. Just imagine him outside, carefully and patiently layering all these delicate washes on the page. He's got the bird nestled in amongst the grass, perfectly still, so we can see all its markings. All that brown and yellow… it reminds me of being a kid, looking for patterns in everything. I wonder if Thorburn felt that too? And I wonder what he thought about, all those hours he must have spent looking at birds, and painting them? There’s something so old-fashioned about it, and yet, every painter looks at other painters, and at nature. We’re all looking and trying to figure out what it all means, and then, like Thorburn, we leave our version behind.