Watercolour Illustration of an Owl

Watercolour Illustration of an Owl

I had been looking forward to holding three wildlife drawing workshops using real owls as the life models this month, at the prestigious Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. Such workshops are a fantastic opportunity to discover the characters of the birds, as well as gain the opportunity to sketch freely.

As the workshops have been cancelled for the time-being, along with all other workshops in the country, I thought I would post a few owl drawings and paintings.

This owl was created a few years ago. It was one of my early 'looser' paintings and in contrast to the detailed paintings that seemed to define my artwork at the time.

Somehow it felt wrong to be painting whimsical little characters and their worlds - like it wasn't the 'proper' art of traditional wildlife paintings that I usually produced. It took a while to show these to anyone, especially other artists!

But there is no right or wrong way; in this case, they are an extension to the fine art paintings, as such sketching and paintings enhance observations that can help inform the more realistic artwork, and even writings.

I wonder how anyone could look at wildlife and not imagine what they are up to when humans aren't watching.

This is certainly the month for owls - and other wildlife; during the lockdown there have been many accounts of birds and wildlife that are usually a little timid. I heard an owl hooting the other evening - the first one I have heard on the doorstep in years, despite the nearby woodland.

More owl sketches, drawings and paintings to follow...

This is one of my favourites - he looks so cuddly!

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British Wildlife Artist Writer Illustrator

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