Eastern Screech Owl--Vickie Henderson

I am loving the sketches and paintings I am seeing here.  There are so many talented individuals with so many different ways of seeing and recording the world around them.  It is enriching to both create art and to see how others interpret their world.  

I especially appreciated Pam Johnson Brickell's post recently that commented on the finishing of a sketchbook page. It affirmed that for others as well, the finishing of a page doesn't always happen in a sequential time frame.  In the case of this sketchbook page, I began in 2009!  It's fun to come back to a page like this, and wonder, why didn't I finish this?  What seemed difficult at the time, an indecision about where to put the light in the eyes, seemed fairly simple last night as I finished the page--a reminder that practice and persistence makes a difference.

Eastern screech owls are the smallest of our tufted owls, the ones with "ears" that are actually feathers that help camouflage them while they sleep.  This owl was roosting in a nest box and was lifted out during a nest box check.  Not the happiest of birds to be interrupted during sleep!

More about this owl and sketchbook can be found at:  Eastern Screech Owl--The Finish at Vickie's Sketchbook.

To learn more about the eastern screech owl, visit Cornell's page on this species.  Be sure to listen to the owl's call!