Catching the Light by Stephen Jesic

I have always wanted to paint this beautiful bird but never had the setting which would do the owl justice. I finally found an old farm shed and took hundreds of photos so I had enough choice of settings and combinations of farm memorabilia to design the painting, I wanted to make the owl the centre of attention so I kept the backdrop subdued, not too busy, but just enough detail to keep the viewers interest. I had taken so many reference photos of this bird; finally selecting a magical pose showing the softness of feathers, their light grey colouring with blotches of rich buff, covered with tiny tear shaped markings. These were very time consuming to paint but I also discovered a complex interplay of varying neutral grey tints within these patterns giving a subtle vibrancy. So rewarding to paint.