Owl Sketches & Painting on the Patio

Tawny owl & long-eared owl - taxidermy specimens.

These two visitors have been gracing my studio recently. They are taxidermy specimens (borrowed) and offer a great opportunity to study these beautiful owls. However, when working from taxidermy be aware that there can be discrepancies to the real thing - in this case both suffer from flattened feathers as they usually live in a local school and have been stroked a lot I think! The long-eared owl also has a rather alarming list to one side which I tried to correct in my drawing...

Tawny owl sketch, pencil.

Tawny owls are woodland birds and make the characteristic owl hoot. Several years ago I was fortunate to spy one sitting in a tree in the front garden at dusk. 

Long-eared owl sketch, pencil.

The long-eared owl does often have the long, thin appearance of this specimen and feature head feathers which are known as ear tufts. These are not actually ears, but get raised when the bird is alarmed. I have never seen one in the wild although they do live in Britain but don't seem to be as common as the tawny or barn owl.

Pericallis 'Senetti', charcoal on A3 cartridge paper.

Today I was determined to have a play with art materials and as the weather was warm and sunny I decided to work on the patio. To 'warm up' - artistically, not physically - I started with a charcoal drawing of a delightful potted plant. I was attracted by the simple flowers with long curvy petals and the leaf shapes. I blended charcoal onto the paper surface first to create a mid-tone and then used a charcoal pencil for the line work with an eraser to lift out the lights. The work builds quite quickly with this method and helps prevent fiddly detailing.

Fern in a patio pot, placed on the table for easier observation.

After a break for a cup of tea my eye fell upon this fern which lives in what I call my damp 'woodland' area of the patio... actually it's just a dank corner which never gets any sun, but the ferns and hostas seem happy there. I have added some logs, rocks and pebbles which have been colonised by mosses to support the theme. I began again in my 8x8" sketchbook by observing the curve and unfurling of several stems in pencil. Then moved into watercolour, initially using just the brush and paint but this seemed rather weak in terms of an image so I introduced pencil once it had dried.   

Fern drawn in pencil in sketchbook.

Fern in watercolour,
drawing directly with paint.

Added pencil to strengthen work,
but seemed lost on page...

Extended pencil work beyond
painted areas and finally
a rather wobbly 'frame' to anchor on page.

As I had hoped to get into actually doing a painting of some sort I decided to continue with the fern and taped two A4 size sheets of 140lb Bockingford watercolour paper (Not surface) to a board and placed this on a metal easel. As I wanted to get away from a totally representational image I chose to work with less realistic colour in a limited palette. I worked on both paintings simultaneously but present the sequences as Fern 1 and Fern 2 so the stages are easier to follow. 

Fern 1 - watercolour variegated wash & when almost dry
spattered clean water to create visual texture.

Fern 1 - added some strokes of colour with pastel sticks
then brushed clean water over this to disperse.
Once this layer had dried I began to draw with pastel pencil. 

Fern 1 - continued to build up fern motifs
until I felt I had 'said' enough.

And finally Fern 2...

 

Fern 2 - watercolour underpainting,
again spattered with water to create mottled effect.

Fern 2 - sweeps of pastel sticks then water brushed over
which creates drips and granulation. Once dry, pastel pencils
to describe fern forms.

Fern 2 - continue to build up painting
with addition of more pastel pencil.

Having experienced a bit of a drought on the creative front recently I am pleased with the results of this afternoon. I enjoyed working in the sketchbook first and certainly feel observing and sketching the fern before attempting the two mixed media paintings helped to create a looser interpretation. I certainly won't be exhibiting or framing them but feel there is some merit in the layering and textural qualities that appeal to me.   

If you also feel stuck in a rut or the creative well has temporarily run dry, take the pressure off and give yourself permission to be side tracked by small studies and experiments... who knows where they might lead?