"King of the North" great grey owl 24x30" 8/2026

Day 1. After coming up with this idea, based on a photoshoot from 2010. I had the opportunity to photograph several Great Greys in Nothern MN. I hadn't done an owl for several years. As they invade Mn only in the winter, I chose this winter scene. Using my owl reference and a big oak on our long gravel driveway. Walking my dog in the morning was where I got this idea. Inspiration comes from many different sources, this is a good example of finding painting ideas close to home. First, I found the tree I wanted, and shot it on an overcast winter day. So much of the layout had to do with the rythym of the branches.

Day 2&3. Laying in the main feathering with darks and washing the main branches in, I had originally put in some grays over the white background, (which I eventually painted over). I decided to finish the owl first, being the most important part of the piece. And knew it would take a long time.

Day 4&5. Painting the owl was a lot of work with all the detail. I wanted to leave the feather detail a bit rough, to make it look like a painting, instead of a photograph. I had done a fair amount of work on the head (the most important area). Slowly working down his back to the tail.

Day 6-9. Painting the back feathers took a long time. I put in some darks on the big branch to support the owl belly feathers. 

Day 10-14. This is the finished painting. By looking at the previous shot above, you will see the incredible amount of work I did to finish the owl. Also the tree branches weren't too tough. So much of it was the design work I used to orchestrate the medium and small branches to support the owl. Here I had painted over the original gray sponge work, to simplify the background. Adding small things like the moss on the branch and bringing in some warm colors on the big branch. From a balance perspective, I "busied up" the right side with small strokes and branches to counter the weight of the owl's head. Hope you like it!

 

 

 

 

 

"The Thundering Herd" oil on linen 1/2026. 30x50" 

Day 1.  After transferring my original sketch to the canvas, I tone the canvas with burnt sienna acrylic. You can see the rough sienna in the open areas. It dries quick and then I start painting with oils over the acylic wash. I draw in the main features of the background with transparent oxide red oil. Here I have started laying in the value and colors of some of the background.

 

Day 3. Painted in sky and clouds, mountains and forest areas with thick paint and big strokes.

 

Day 5. This shot is better color wise, I shot this with my camera, the first 2 shots were taken with phone. Lost some color on sky and clouds but, this will do. I finished the mountains, clouds and mid forest areas.

 

Day 6. Finished the trees on right mid-ground.

 

Day 8. Blocked in foreground, getting rhythm lines established.

 

Day 9. Finally started on the horses. I shot these wild horses on a trip to the Calgary Stampede art show years ago. I would camp, photograph, and fly fish my way up the eastern slope of the mountains. My favorite horse is the 'paint' in the middle of the herd. I finished the brown horse behind him and worked on the rest of the herd. By the way, the claw in the lower right of the image, is the back scatcher I use as a mahl stick. I thought the bulk of the painting was done, but wait!

 

Day 11. As it goes with many paintings, I changed my mind. Decided I didn't like the mountains and thought the big rock was distracting. So I found some other ones I liked better. A lot of extra work, but it made me happy. Also, beause of the light direction, I cut down on the shadow on the mid forest area.

 

Day 14. After finishing and refining various areas I wasn't happy with, I decided to change the foreground rock, making it more interesting. So, after more than 2 wks, and some blood, sweat, and tears, I finally finished "The Thundering Herd"!! One of the largest paintings I have done.