Sketch of the Week: Owl

With the days getting shorter and the temperatures more reasonable, I've been finding myself riding to the Zoo and other local haunts to relish the sunshine. It's still too light out for this owl though, who only opened his eyes occasionally to see whether I'd left yet.


For this sketch I alternated between my regular speedball pen and the more raw, gestural strokes of the bamboo pen. Once again I'd forgotten my paintbrush, so I did some fingerpainting to add the color and ink wash. For the sliver of yellow in the eye I used a dried leaf tip I found lying on the ground to get the crescent shape. It worked.

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