I love barn owls because they have such a human face and beautiful, soft feathers with lots of white dots. They like to live near people where there are a lot of mice. They also nest in the attics of old houses and church towers.
I’d been preparing to paint this beauty for a long time, and recently did. I used a free photo from here: https://unsplash.com/photos/F66E2VdboAY
I only sketched the main lines with a pencil.
I started painting with the background, using ultramarine and turquoise shades. It complements the brownish colors of the owl.
I used umbra, burnt siena, golden ocher, Payne-gray, and sepia on the owl's plumage.
I paid attention to the light-shadow conditions.
I worked out the details with tiny brush strokes, making sure these strokes were not too dark or hard.
I worked a lot on the little details of the plumage. I drew the tiny white spots with a white gel pen at the end.
Some details:
