I have always painted birds and animals and decided to design another owl. I love the colors and textured patterns of the owl’s feathers. Using the thick acrylic paints and mixing a variety of colors when hand-painting my collage papers, I can create a variegated mixture of colors that work perfect for bird feathers.

After doing a pencil sketch, I began cutting the paper shapes with an X-acto knife and assembled the pieces on a piece of 300# watercolor paper. Most of the time I use a gessoed hardboard, but because this was a smaller size, the heavier paper worked just as well — a variety of supports can be used for collages. After I glued the owl and added the background, it seemed empty to me so I added some branches which added interest and color to the composition. The repetition of the feathers coincides with the leaf shapes which unifies the painting.