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Sunday 8 July 2012

Owl Eyes

We were treated to another glorious sunny day today (hurray!!!) so the original plan of building the garden fence was put on the back burner - well some things are more important than the garden fence!!!   ... so sarnies prepared,  we headed out to the local animal park with my daughter and her friend.  It was Gary's first visit to this little park and he was pleasantly surprised at the variety of animals there and the 'Pet Corner' where you get the opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the animals including a magnificent 15 week old Eagle Owl.

So for today's painting I thought I'd post a quick watercolour sketch I did last year of an Eagle Owl's eyes and funnily enough it's a year to the day that I did it - weird eh?

Owl Eyes - painted July 7th 2011 from a gorgeous photo on PMP by Angeline Rijkeboer
by Sharon Whitley the Rambling Artist


These beautiful birds have the most amazing hypnotic orange eyes and it was a real thrill to get so close and be able to stroke it's soft feathers - what a treat - much better than building a fence!  I was surprised how big it was already at only 15 weeks.  Here is one of the brilliant photos that Gary took today - you will see many more on his Walks and Wildlife blog here.


A year on, I hope to paint a better version of this magnificent bird so wish me luck and watch this space!







20 comments:

  1. Fabulous eyes, Sharon! What a coincidence!

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    1. thank you Judy, and yes I thought that when I saw the date I'd painted it

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  2. Loving the blog Sharon. Think I'm picking up some tips too now. :-)

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    1. thanks Laura, glad you like it, it's good fun!

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  3. Oh that Stare...how incredible that you had painted one a year to the day!

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    1. they do have a very hypnotic stare - gorgeous birds!

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  4. I love owls, they always seem a cross between a wise-man, a wizard and a clown.

    Interesting (annual) post :0)

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    1. Owls are great - got some good photos of Tawny owls and barn owls as well as the eagle owls, I want to paint them all!

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  5. The eyes are so sparky! Love it :-)

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  6. Hello Sharon:) Your Gary makes the most beautiful photo's! Love the eyes you painted. I'm hypnotized....

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    1. He's a brilliant photographer - I'm very lucky to be able to request what I want photographed too, loads of references to paint from!

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  7. We did have a great time at the park.... cant wait to see the eagle painting xx

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  8. I look forward to seeing it too will be really good to see how you approach it a year on!!

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    1. not sure whether I'm going to go for loose or more detailed yet - I'll see what happens when I get that brush in my hand - you know me - slapdash and no planning!!!

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  9. Fabulous Owl Sharon. I've just looked at some of your other work and am in awe. I will be back often to look at more.

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    1. Thank for popping by John, great to see you here and thank you for your kind comments!

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  10. Lovely paintings here Sharon. I hope you will allow me to follow your blog.
    Regards

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    1. Trevor I would be honoured if you followed my blog, thank you

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  11. Amazing like always. Congratulations

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I love hearing from you, thank you so much for leaving a comment - I will always try to leave a reply and pop over to visit your blog if you have one - although sometimes I may be slower than others, have a wonderful day xx