I love getting to see Marsh Wrens. They are more often heard than seen, so getting a good look is especially rewarding. I’ve occasionally seen them doing a “Van Damme” pose holding onto two cattails. Getting a photo of that was on my wish list. I finally got a chance at the Maumee Bay State Park boardwalk last spring. Wrens never sit still and are hard to photograph. They tend to pop up, sing and then drop down, disappearing into the reeds.
On top of their tiny size, speed and stealth, these individuals were nesting a bit farther away than my 400mm could pull in. A 600mm lens would’ve been ideal. After a lot of effort I got decent photos and was able to enlarge the image enough to use as a painting reference.
Painting the bird itself went really quickly, but the background took forever. In my photo the cattails were pretty uniform in color. In order to give the main “tan” colors more pop and motion in the painting, I added slight green and red shifts to select leaves. This added some needed color contrast and separation.
Please contact me if you’re interested in buying the original watercolor or a print of this painting. Some of my work is also available for licensing.
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