Friday, August 28, 2015

Festival Owl Project: Keene State College Children's Literature Festival

I donated my owl to Keene State College Owl Project. Now my owl has its permanent home!

When painting my owl I set several fun challenges for myself. 

I really wanted my owl to be in its environment, so I decided on the owl at dawn overlooking the forest. 

The other challenge was to figure out the best way to combine a flat, decorative technique of the owl with a painterly technique of the environment. It was a lot of fun painting the foggy dawn air. The trick was to use many thin layers and to make sure that nothing in the background is well-defined. My ornate and colorful owl really stood out against this soft, understated background. 

I used watercolor on soft-press Fabriano watercolor paper to create this illustration.


Boston Children's Museum. Countdown to Kindergarten Classroom.