A Peek In My Sketchbook: Mixed Media Owls

This week on the blog is all about owls! Why you may ask?Well owls lend themselves particularly well to all kinds of crafts, and they do work particularly well with all things Fall and Winter, meaning seasonal or holiday decorations! And as you may know, I am all about decorating the house for holidays, and celebrating the seasons through creativity and crafts, so hello owls! Owls can be cute or interesting or both, so hold on tight as there is an owl craft for everyone! I started my owl adventures with two mixed media paintings in my sketchbook, so I’m sharing that with you first. Owls can be abstract and painterly, are particularly easy to doodle and lend themselves to all kinds of fun applications, so lets get started!

You’ll Need:

• white mixed media or watercolor paper
• acrylic paint
• a white paint pen
• a black permanent marker. medium nib
• yellow acrylic ink (optional, used to make white stars yellow)
• gold leaf flakes
• old book/magazine pages

glue for the gold leaf and magazine pages, such as matt medium, gel medium
How To:

My owls are basically a bunch of brush strokes in layered color, done via the negative painting technique, but one can honestly just really loosely put patches of color on the page, and then deinfe the wings, eyes, and beak with a black pen, then go in with more color. Define the outer shape of the owl by painting the background. Apply bits of old magazine pages and gold leaf. Set aside to dry, then go in with a white paint pen to add details where desired, and one can add some more bits of color here and there as well. Again it is all about a loose layering of brushstrokes and then defining the owl with details that you apply with a black sharpie and a white paint pen!

Enjoy making some owls of your own, they take on a character all their own, and the more the better!