Here's Looking at You-Owl Study

I have always loved owls...My first rememberance of an owl was from Winnie the Pooh. Later in life I spent a lot of time in the bush with my father, and the haunting calls and the swooping shadows of owls were the highlight of the twilight times.

Like many of the woodland creatures, they maintain an air of regality and knowledge that are conveyed by their stature and intense glare. When you look into their eyes, you understand why they are members of the raptor family...

I worked on a piece of Bristol paper for this portrait of this majestic Great Horned Owl, and used Prismacolor Scholar Pencil Crayons. The finished area is approximately 22" x 17". I will get better with my WIP series, as I am learning to stop and take regular images of my work...sometimes I just get sooooo involved in it, that I forget to take pictures!! This portrait took me well over 300 hours to finish.

Please be aware that these clickable images open mostly uncompressed and larger to allow you to see my work upclose...please be patient while they load for you.

I wanted to start with the eyes, then just to do a head shot, but as I got into this I wanted to see what it would look like with a full body shot...however the eyes hold your gaze, for maybe a little longer than you would have liked...now you know how a mouse feels!! Everytime I would come back to this portrait, I would get goosebumps looking into those eyes!

The plumage at his neck was a wonderful treat...I worked the pencil crayons in the dark and colored areas only leaving blank Bristol paper underneath to give the effect of the puffy feathers at the neck area.

See those spots on his feathers? I scratched my head for a while wondering how I could get those in there, and still maintain my color direction...and it finally hit me, are you ready for this? I used....shhhh dont tell anyone...liquid paper pen!!! Simple dots over the finished pencil crayon gave me the effect I wanted without causing me to have to color around them. Now I know I could have masked them off, but that was time consuming and tedious...and I got to try something new out!! It was a win/win situation.

Ahhhh those talons...pure power in feathered form.

An overall view of my portrait...I am going 'feather crazy' by now...

Originally I had wanted the head shot, then I wanted the body shot, then I wanted to add background...I'm glad I ran out of space on the Bristol paper! The background is layered greens and browns...I loved the effect that it gave the overall image...it helped soften the intense gaze, yet gave the portrait unbelievable depth and foundation.

As you will notice, there are some serious quantum jumps here...I promise in the future to take many more pictures!!