Great Horned Owl in Moonlight

This piece was my first attempt at a serious art piece. The large eyes and nocturnal hunting lifestyle of owls intrigued me as their faces appear almost human.  I started this piece when I was living in Alabama during a turbulent time in my life.  As a result, I only half finished it at the time before I moved west when I had it mailed to me four years later completing it that winter.

When I was planning this piece, I wasn’t sure of my technique as I had only completed two color pieces before.  For this reason, it took me much longer to finish because the first few weeks were learning and developing what would become my style and technique of drawing.  This is one reason why this piece is and will always be very special to me.

This owl piece was also special to me because the full moon reflecting off the endless sea was a huge challenge that ended up being quite fun. Using watercolor pencils in this piece was an important and necessary medium for capturing the moonlight on the water.  This is because of the unique ability watercolor pencils have for being used both “dry” for drawing or dipped on a wet sponge for “painting”.  For the background of the Great Horned Owl in Moonlight, I used both of those techniques to give the depth and focus I was trying to achieve.