Painting an Owl Part I

I finally started to paint the owl today.  It wasn't too hard to start as I had already chosen my colours and transferred the image to watercolour paper.  Because I wanted to work wet-in-wet, I had to decide how best to cover the image.  I could have wet the whole page and then applied pigment as needed, but I decided to work in sections instead.

First, I wet the top of the head and ear tufts.  Then, following the original image (roughly) I applied pigment.  When the paper was just started to loose its sheen (indicating a level of dryness), I added some water drops for texture at the middle top of the head.

I wanted to keep the outside edges soft and the colours to blend just a little to show softness.  I kept the eye area white for now as there are lighter feathers around the eyes.  I also covered some of the feathers under the beak.  Then I worked on the body as a section, wetting the area and applying pigment as appropriate.

This is my first wash.  I think he looks a bit like Wolverine at the moment, but there's definitely an impression of softness about him.  I will work on the face next time and then put in the rest of the head. It will be a while before I get to work on the details and shading.  But as a first step I think this has gone well.