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Barred Owl

Barred Owl line art illustration (click image to enlarge)

Barred Owl full color illustration (click image to enlarge)

Artist's notes:

The Barred Owl was completed on 12/18/2008. The drawing is based on a photo by Frank Shufelt. This was a pretty tough animal to draw I found. If you didn't get the feathers to lay just right, or the shadows and highlights weren't in the right place the entire illustration would falter. I the end I am mostly satisfied with the results, and it could be my strongest drawing of the year. When you become obsessed with the perfection of the image there is a great tendency to overwork an image. I hope that I stopped just short of this pitfall.

Information about the Barred Owl:

The Barred Owl has several other common names, such as hoot owl, rain, wood, and round-headed owl. It is a large owl with a wingspan of 40-44 inches and with a length of 18 inches. Barred Owls are found typically in the forests, wooded swamps, and woodlands of North America. They feed on mice and other small rodents, along with frogs, bats, fish and insects. It possible the range of the Barred Owl, which is currently expanding, is forcing out the smaller Spotted Owls and leading to their decline. They generally live to about 10 years in the wild.