Day 1
I began with the outline of the owl's body in a peachy neutral colour that would be easy to go over and blend with the colours I wanted to use next; it was just to provide some structure so that I could start the face, which I chose to do in black. This was similar to the image I was trying to recreate, but I attempted to make the eyes look more alive in my version. I spent a lot of time trying to get the face just right, because I had never "shaded" with paint before, but I quite enjoyed it and liked how it turned out.
Day 2
Next, I finished the black parts head and torso and began to add the orangey-brown colour that was used in the original image. I found I quite liked that combination, and blended them together to create something that looked relatively "natural"; at this point I wasn't sure anymore if I wanted to add in some of the other colours used in the original or do my own thing and stick with a more realistic feel, so I didn't get any further this day.
Day 3
After some deliberation, I decided that upon doing the first wing I would add some shades of blue in order to provide some artistic interest, but that I would leave the torso and head more or less as is. I thought the middle of the painting could be the realistic part, and the wings could be more abstract, just as I had originally planned. However, instead of using a whole bunch of different colours like the original painting had, I decided just to stick with shades of blue for now; I thought it complimented the orange-brown colour nicely and it still looked relatively natural. Instead of doing harsh feathers, I went with the softer lines of the wings in the original piece to draw attention to the detail in the middle.
Day 4
Next I began the second wing, using the same colours but incorporating some lighter shades of blue to kind of show where the light would be hitting. I really wanted it to look dramatic and feathery but still abstract, so I used a lot of water to blend the colours and create a soft kind of feel. I continued to leave out the other colours present in the original painting, because I still quite liked the simplicity of a less broad colour pallet. As an afterthought, I added some speckling drops of black paint; a technique that I really like because it adds some extra interest and texture to the piece.
Day 5
Finally, I spent a while finishing up the wings in layers of paint using the same colours as before but overlapping them differently in order to make it look more interesting. I used a "whooshing" technique of sorts, particularly on the left wing, to try and make it look more feathery but also abstract; almost like the wings were fading away as the feathers progressed further from the centre. From here I stopped looking at the original image; I continued to add some more speckling of black paint as well as some blue and white, and just played around with everything for a while until I was more or less satisfied with the overall picture. I didn't add much more to the torso and middle of the picture, because I liked the way it was sharper in contrast and stood out. I did not include the darkness of the tail feathers that the original picture had in it because I liked the "fade out" concept that I had going, and I preferred the way the claws stood out starkly from the background colours. At this point, I decided that I was finished. I did not want to go overboard because I liked the way the background was white and simple, lending all of the attention to the single subject.
Fini!
