Bushtits have long been one of my very favorite local birds. Though their coloration is hardly striking, there is something absolutely magical about observing a flock of bushtits. They are exceptionally tiny, and despite traveling in flocks of up to fifty birds, are actually quite hard to observe, or at least photograph. They stay in constant motion, flitting about rapidly, often hanging from slender branches at odd angles, and picking insects off the underside of leaves. They seem to prefer dense trees and shrubs, so they are often obscured from sight, though their constant, high pitched cheeping betrays their presence.

In “The Wood Sprites” I chose to show the bushtits as I often see them, as a series or disjointed, fleeting images. Though I have not literally represented the tangle of branches and leaves amongst which they typically forage, the cropping of a tail here, a head there, is suggestive of their constant flitting in and out of sight. The combination of subtle greys with lively oranges that dominate the background color palette is meant to symbolically communicate the contrast between the birds’ demure coloration and their vivid and sprightly personalities.