I had the pleasure of meeting this little creature at the zoo a couple of weeks ago. She is, I believe, a Western Screech owl. She was found, and brought in to be treated for an injury to her eye, and it was sadly discovered that she was blind. The zookeepers decided it was best for her to live with them permanently. She was very lovely, and sat quite calmly on her keepers’ hand, even as crowds of people drew close to sneak a peak. She didn’t mind the attention at all! (Obviously she couldn’t see them, duh, but I do wonder if she could sense them.) The way she was able to blend in with the tree behind her was unbelievable!

After taking a few photos of her, I really wanted to try painting her. So I did, and now you can view my attempt below:

I had a lot of fun painting this (mostly because with feathers, you can cheat, and basically just make a bunch of random squiggles and splotches). I used a white Jelly Roll pen, (my secret weapon),  to highlight, and fill in small details. I decided to use my Sakura Koi watercolors for this project, and I had lot of fun with them. I hadn’t used them in quite a while so it was nice to get back to them. (I do recommend them, if you haven’t tried them.)

I may not have done her justice, but I had a lot of fun trying!