Capturing a barn owl in silent flight | my painting story

I've been captivated by barn owls ever since I found a nest in an old elm tree on the farm in North Yorkshire where I grew up. They are such beautiful birds. Watching them fly across the meadows in the evening light is one of the most stunning sights on the Yorkshire Wolds. Barn owls have such soft feathers they offer little resistance to the wind and consequently, their flight is almost silent. When painting barn owls the challenge is to capture the soft colours of their feathers. I painted this in acrylics so that I could portray these colours in fine detail.

It took me 17 years to get a barn owl to nest at my home and art studio at Fotherdale Farm, Thixendale. And I am so glad I persevered because now I am able to view many barn owls from my living room window as they quarter the valley below and so many of them have become models for my paintings. I chose to capture the owl in the following painting as it glided silently into to land. I hope you like it!

https://youtu.be/BRAiaiXmU1E

 

The Finished Piece:

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Barn owls are my favourite birds to paint and I have painted them many times over the years. You can see all my barn owl paintings here: 

https://www.robertefuller.com/my-collection-of-barn-owl-paintings/

Follow the individual stories of my barn owls on my nest cameras here:

https://www.robertefuller.com/barn-owls-2020-stories-from-a-barn-owl-nest-camera/