Apologies for the pun! ~ that aside...In this tutorial I will show you how to recreate a beautiful portrait of an Eagle owl using the addition of salt to give him extra soft, fluffy plumage.
I love owls and I think the Eurasian Eagle Owl is possibly my favourite, due to their gorgeous, golden, orange eyes ~ although it is really is hard to pick just one favourite as the Barn Owl is so beautiful with its pale feathers and delicate pattern. Whilst the Little Owl has such a lot of attitude in its grumpy expression for one so small!
Eagle Owls are the largest species of owl. They are not considered an active native species in the UK but it is believed that they once were (although this has not been proved conclusively). However, native or not, there are actually several known breeding pairs currently living in the UK. These birds are thought to have originally escaped from captivity rather than having arrived through natural migration.
In this tutorial you will have the opportunity to adapt your colours depending on how pale you would like your feathers. You can add more water to you colours to create pale plumage or add more pigment to create stronger hues.
This tutorial is really in two halves. The head and face takes up the majority of painting time, as it will be painted using more detail. This will help us to capture the crisp highlights in the eye and attract focus to the face.
In contrast, the body of the owl will be painted in a much looser way using a combination of techniques to create the illusion of soft feathers. To do this we will use a larger brush and use water to diffuse and blend the colours. We will also add a light sprinkling of salt to create a dappled softness.
To complete the owl we will lift out some colour with a damp brush and then add a few highlights and texture using the scratching out technique.
To find out a little bit more about this project, take a look at the short video below.
I really hope you enjoy this project, there are lots of little techniques to try out which can be used and adapted into other animal paintings. If you're short on time you could just concentrate on painting the eye as this is really good chance to practise achieving glossy reflections. Remember you can also scale this painting up if you would like to create even more of an impact. Plus you can adapt the values to create a softer or more vibrant final painting.
If you love watching wildlife and in particular owls ~ but you don't own any night vision goggles! ~ you could pop over to Robert E Fuller's live YouTube feed which features nesting owls. It is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSsKm7rkv20 Robert is an amazing Yorkshire-based wildlife artist and film maker who has dedicated his life to recording nature.
Currently you can watch a pair of beautiful Barn Owls rearing owlets inside a tree hollow. You can also see Tawny Owls, stoats and foxes amongst a myriad of other British wildlife creatures ~ it's well worth a look particularly after 10pm when Robert goes out to leave food at several of the feeding stations based on his land.
Happy Painting!
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