Owls in Watercolour 2017

Owl Collection in Watercolour 2017

Its' been another hectic week. It seems that everyone wanted to buy a painting recently and they all wanted it right now. From horse racing scenes to wildlife and florals, my paintings have been jetting off all over the world I am happy to say. There is nothing more wonderful than knowing that someone has desperately wanted a certain subject and a gallery can help with not only the sale, but sending the piece to the client as well. But this takes time, organisation and keeps me away from my brushes a little. But I am happy to say I am back in my studio and working on a new collection which will be in a solo exhibition in Hampshire this year. That is, if I can actually keep any of these paintings for the show. Perhaps it might be wise to ask if anyone reading my blog would like any of the paintings you see on line as they appear  you can contact me and I will put you in touch with the gallery to reserve a piece.

But back to my paintings. Right now I have a gorgeous collection of owl paintings on the go. I thought it would be fun to show you the early stages of the paintings on my easel.

First the beautiful eye of the owl below  says everything about this piece. The feather work is looking so pretty right now at this stage that I need to be very careful not to overwork it. I will add the detail for the beak, hints of the markings on the feathers and then see what the painting needs next. To be honest I would love one of my own paintings of owls for our cottage but they continually keep being bought. Perhaps this one will make it to my walls and no one will like it as much as me.

 

 Gorgeous eye detail in a new owl painting.

Next I have an idea in  my head to paint several young owls in a row. I started this piece by painting the "centre stage" subject of a young owl. Next I added the second youngster and a third baby owl will appear in the composition by Friday. I think. If the painting looks brilliant minus the third owl I may just leave this piece with two subjects rather than three.

 

Stage 1.  Single young owl

 Stage 2. A pair of young owls coming to life as a work in progress on my easel

I honestly cannot wait to complete this series. I adore painting eyes that shine like jewels. And for birds, the eyes feels even more important especially when working on gorgeous subjects like the above owls.

I often allow my imagination to run riot when I am working on wildlife compositions. From my window in my studio I see wildlife and birds regularly. So I am never short of subjects to paint either from life or the photos I have taken. While I was painting the above pieces I looked out of my window to see the below bird that has fluffed up its feathers to keep out the cold. Either that or it needs to go on a diet! I should  confess. We do feed everything that visits our home a little too well.

 Pigeon outside my studio this afternoon.

I just know I will be painting this!

Whatever you are doing I hope you are smiling and that my blog post made you smile a little too. Working on a series of paintings is often better than working on just one. It gives you freedom to express yourself differently each time you approach painting the same subject. Not only that but each time you paint the same subject you get better and better.

A good tip for today is " Never give up".

 Unless like the pigeon you need to stop doing something. In the pigeons case, over eating!

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