This is the second of the bargain 8×10 blank stretched canvasses that I scored at Goodwill. For this one, I thought the small size of the canvas was suited to a little barred owl.

---

This one was tricky in that I made some efforts to manipulate the cardboard to represent the direction of the feathers, which meant figuring out how to make the facial disc common in owls. For this, I actually peeled both sides of the paper off the cardboard and used only the corrugation for the face. I folded it into a fan shape and then quickly glued it into place before the fan unfolded itself.

---

I waffled for a while on what to do with the eyes, and finally decided to deviate from the use of cardboard in order to get a more of the effect of shiny, bright eyes. I ended up making them with a high grade polymer clay, which I baked and painted with black acrylic, then a coating of clear acrylic to make them more shiny. I carved out a bit of the cardboard where I was going to place the eyes in order to sink them into the face a little bit more.

A coating of white gesso, and then many, many layers of paint in order to try to capture the color pattern of the barred owl and a feathery feel. I gave him a little tree to hang out in and a few leaves as embellishments. 

I’ve tried to do prints of this piece, but the 3D pieces are hard to photograph and even harder to do prints of. Therefore, this is a one of a kind work. 

This piece has been sold!