Painting a Little Owl in Chromacolour

I'm back home from holiday but still feeling jet lagged. We had a fantastic time but it is always nice to come home, and then start planning for next year!

I'll be demonstrating for Chromacolour at Art Materials Live which is held at the NEC in November. I'm painting some small pieces to leave in various stages of completion to give people an idea of my technique with acrylic. As  paint really slowly I thought if I had a few different pieces I could work on over the four days I could demonstrate feathers, fur, eyes etc
This is a Little Owl from my own reference photograph, 8 x 6, chromacolour on mdf board.
I'm using a mix of raw and burnt umber, ultramarine blue, paynes grey and white for the feathers.

I will work this to completion because I need it for my solo exhibition which also starts in November.

Tawny Owl in Mixed Media - Final Stage

'Ruffled Feathers'

12 x 16 inches, mixed media on watercolour paper, painted from my own reference photographs.

I'll put my owl to one side for a few days before I make the final adjustments. Now to go and finish the snow leopard and the other owl.

Tawney Owl Continued

I've continued to work on the tawny owl painting slowly down the body. I decided the tail feathers looked hard to work out so I'm leaving those for last.
I'm thinking about adding the stump in graphite as I don't want to take the focus away from the owl. I'll have a play in Photoshop before I decide.
I've decided to do a series of owls as I have some nice reference photographs of both the barn and little owls.

A Very Wet Harrogate Flower Show

The weather at Harrogate Flower Show was dreadful, I think I've developed webbed feet and possibly pneumonia. Despite that I had a really good show and enjoyed exhibiting with Made in Yorkshire for the first time. I found the whole set up very professional and the other exhibitors very friendly and helpful which made the experience much better than it could have been.

I worked on the pheasant although my hands were so cold most of the time not much drawing got done.

Tawny Owl in Watercolour

I've started painting a tawny owl in watercolour. I intend to include the full body as in my reference photo the bird is wet and has ruffled feathers due to a strong wind which is a little bit different. I was also ruffled at the time as it was a really wet and windy day and I got down to eye level with the owl. I took the photographs of the owl at a local game fair.

Unfortunately I've been quite badly bitten so have one hand completely bandaged and the other hand and arm so badly bruised I can't bend my fingers which means I might be slower than ever on this one. It's a long story involving bitches in season, frustrated male dogs and my hands going too near snapping teeth.