Owl Flying In Daylight

It's rare treat is to witness an owl flying in daylight. Though short-eared owls hunt in daylight it's they're scarcely seen. Even rarer is taking a photo of one free of blur but here's one I managed to take while tramping through the countryside. This beauty was probably about to seize its talons on some poor furry four-legged thing snuffling about in the grass (they eat up to 1000 mice per year.) The second star feature of this photo is that tree in dark shadow. It gave the owl definition and saved the photo from the DELETE button. Well done tree. I thought I'd try to paint both owl and tree and here is the below-average result.

Being mostly foliage this canvas didn't take long. I probably spent 70% of the time on the owl but it proved difficult and didn't come out well. I easily plastered in that big tree and the bright bush in the foreground. Preventing the viewer being bored I decided to add a ploughed in the mid-distance. If you zoom in there's a couple of people walking an alpaca.

Those spread out feathers were a toil to paint. On a bigger canvas it may have been easier. I tried three times and the second version was probably best. Sometimes you have to bring the curtain down and end a painting so I did. One for the attic - the spiders, bats and Sidney the skeleton will have to put up with it. However it's for sale if you have a particularly stubborn stain on the wall in your bedroom which needs covering - a stain made from trifle, chocolate, strawberry K-gel, battery acid, handcuff oil or custard. This painting will cover them all.