IdeaJones

Tag: owl

Happy H-OWL-oween!

Celebrating the bird of Halloween, the Owl, with owl trivia:

Did you know that a group of owls is called a “parliament of owls?” Probably because they

This is “Harvest Moon,” a digital painting based on my acrylic painting, “The Night Watch.”

seem so dignified most of the time (not that most parliaments, or congresses, are all that dignified, but we can hope).

There are over 150 species of owls in the world and some say there are over 200 (depends on how you classify them).

There are owls on every continent except Antarctica.

And owl’s eye is not a sphere. It’s more of a tube, which helps give them better depth perception. They al

My second owl painting, The Night Watch. The first, Did Someone Say Lunch?, is on a market umbrella sold at a charity auction.

so have binocular vision, like humans.

Some owls have “ear tufts” of feathers on their heads — but they aren’t ears. They may be used to communicate (to signal mood, for example). They also help with camouflage.

That flattened facial shape that owls have? It helps funnel sound to their ears.

Owls have three eyelids — one for blinking, one that closes for sleep, and another that cleans the eye.

Owl feet have two toes facing forward and two back (with some rotation). This is called having “zygodactyl” feet.

The largest recorded owl fossil, Orinmegalonyx oteroi, stood about three feet tall (so how big were mice back then?).

A painting and poem from our Redbubble.com shop.

The moment just before takeoff. Ready to fly, but not yet in the air.

Neon Owl bright against the night sky.

If you’re looking for something “owly,” check out our shop at Redbubble.com

At our Redbubble shop, you can find tees, purses and tote bags, all sorts of stuff to keep you flying.

October 30, 2016
Happy Haloweek!

This is “Harvest Moon,” a digital painting based on my acrylic painting, “The Night Watch.”

Here it is, the fall holiday. If autumn had a mascot, it would be a kid draped in a sheet with holes cut out for the eyes, carrying a plastic pumpkin.

The holiday came from All Hallow’s Eve. It was believed that on that night, the border between the living and the dead became thinner and things such as ghosts could get through.

Before that, it was Samhain, a holiday that reminded people it was time to perserve and store food for the coming winter and lay in supplies.

The Irish and Scots brought traditions such as costume parties, carving pumpkins, and having bonfires to the United States. From the U.S. Halloween traditions have spread to many other countries, and each has put its own spin on the holiday.

A bit of trivia about trick-or-treating: in parts of Ohio and Iowa, Halloween is “Beggar’s Night.” I don’t know if knocking on a door and offering the person who answers a choice between giving you something or having a trick played on him is begging, exactly, but “Blackmail Night” sounds awful, so…

My most successful Halloween costume, in terms of candy collected? Santa Claus! Mom made my costumes. One year, I wanted to be a tomato. Yes, I was a weird kid. Anyway, Mom was talented and she really tried, but she just couldn’t come up with a good tomato costume, so she converted it to Santa Claus. I was horrified. Santa Claus? On Halloween? But I went trick or treating, and people loved it. “You’re way to early!,” they’d laugh, or “Santa Claus! That’s great — I’m tired of scary costumes!” They dropped extra candy into my sack (because Santa carries a sack, of course, not a plastic pumpkin). I made out that Halloween. Other kids were openly jealous (and yes, I shared).

Halloween is a chance to try on other personalities, play games, eat treats and either be a kid, or remember being a kid. Wherever you are, we hope you have a wonderful (safe), happy Halloween!

October 24, 2016
Birth of a (Painted) Owl

Process is interesting to me — how someone makes a thing. I’m a sucker for factory tours (Jelly Belly in Fairfield, CA and the Budweiser plant nearby have fun tours), or watching someone create.

The latest animal painting, “The Night Watch,” is the first in a planned trio of paintings featuring owls. I’d painted an owl before, in a hurry, for a charity fundraiser, and on a 9-foot market umbrella at that (first time for that, too):
Detail from the beginning of a 9-foot painting of owls and their prey.

This is an early sketch for the finished painting, which featured owls and their prey catching sight of each other. At the time, I hadn’t planned to paint another owl, but then an idea started rolling around in my brain, an owl dancing.

A painting and poem from our Redbubble.com shop.

When i finished the painting, the poem came into my head while I was looking at it. I think most of us feel we have a secret self, and that self has the potential to do things very different from the things others expect.

So that led to an image of that same owl, about to take flight.

The moment just before takeoff. Ready to fly, but not yet in the air.

In the end, I liked the idea enough to create the full painting in color, that moment just before vaulting into the sky, one last look back before launching.

The first in a trio of planned paintings featuring owls, here an owl pauses before taking flight.

Each owl informed the next. Now The Night Watch is set to be in a show, and over the summer I’ll complete the series. It’ll be interesting to see where my owls are by the time I complete the last one.

May 26, 2016
On Exhibit June 11 – July 9, 2016

Two of our paintings, Cross River Gorilla Blue and The Night Watch, are on exhibit at The Art League of Lincoln in Lincoln, CA (580 Sixth Street, Lincoln, CA).

There’s a reception (free and open to the public) on Saturday, June 11, from 5-6:30 pm, and the show runs through July 9. If you get a chance, check it out — it’s a show of animal-themed art and promises to have some beautiful work. Beyond the reception, the gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 am to 3 pm, and admission is free.

It’s a high when a work gets accepted into a show, and when more than one is accepted, it’s an amazing feeling. We’ve shown two other works in this space (a digital animated video and a digital painting) and it’s a lovely little gallery, tucked into the historic district in Lincoln.

The first painting, Cross River Gorilla Blue, is part of the Meet The Neighbors series highlighting endangered species. The Cross-River Gorilla is highly endangered. All of the paintings in this series are confrontational. It’s a member of the species looking the viewer in the eye, making him acknowledge who and what is going to be lost, not a vague thing, “some sort of gorilla,” but this individual gorilla.

The Night Watch is the first in a trio of planned paintings featuring owls. I love the symbolism of the owl, guardian, guide, keeper of wisdom and secrets. I also love the look of owls, wide-eyed, solid, both soft (those special feathers, designed for quiet flying) and sharp (beak, talons). Symbolically, they’re a reminder that knowledge and wisdom have opposing sides, dark and light, soft and sharp. Sometimes you learn things you’d rather not know, and the knowing, even if good for you, can be painful. Some information is beautiful, some is not. The duality of knowing is embodied in the owl.

More information on the show is available at www.all4art.net.

The first in a trio of planned paintings featuring owls, here an owl pauses before taking flight.

May 26, 2016