Watercolour on paper

Signed on the front.

A watercolour study of Powerful Owl feathers, painted from life.

So often, it’s not until you paint something that you really, really look at it. Really notice the little intricacies of an object, an animal, a texture or small detail - and marvel at the complexities of Nature.

While painting this small study of these incredibly soft Owl feathers, I noticed the textures of the feathers. Normally you see the delicate striations of the feather barbs, that fit into one another to make the feather. The Owl feathers, aside from being incredibly soft, also have additional textures along the barbs - which I had to keep in mind while painting, so that the large wing feather didn't turn out too smooth-looking. I assume those additional textures are one of the ways owls dampen sound when in flight?

(The large feather was given to me, having come from an owl that died of natural causes. The rest were found feathers that naturally fell and were found on the ground near a family of owls, which I had been keeping an eye on for the Powerful Owl Project. I collected just 3 small feathers - while also moving bat wings and leftover bits of owl prey away from the path so as not to attract attention to their nest, which was high up but directly over a walking path. Powerful Owls are a vulnerable species because of their small population, and restricted distribution due to habitat loss and fragmentation.)