Wilson’s Snipe is an interesting shorebird. In general, birds with mottled feathering like this pose a different sort of challenge to paint. Figuring out the logic to their patterns can lead to some confusion at first, but painting them offers a completely different reward from boldly colored birds like warblers.
I was really happy to shoot some close photos at Blackpoint Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a photo trip with my brother Ted. When I see these birds in the midwest, they are typically 50+ yards away in a muddy field. I’ve almost never gotten good photos of them. On this occasion, however, it was a foggy, overcast morning, and they were right up close. As I took the shots, I started getting excited about being able to sketch from them when I got back home. When I started this watercolor, I thought I was painting a new bird. I initially overlooked the fact that I painted a portrait of one five years ago from photos I got at the MSU bird banding station not far from here.
This painting was a little out of my normal comfort zone since I don’t paint that many shorebirds. I ended up rendering the shoreline algae with a green that was brighter than I liked. I thought the green was isolated color-wise and attracted too much attention from its saturation. After everything else was finished, I pushed it into a brownish direction to play better with the bird’s coloration. What do you think… ruined or remedied?
Here is the “before” with the brighter green.
