Sleeping and Waking

I am a bird enthusiast and love depicting them in their natural environment, especially snowy owls. I dress for the cold and hike around coastal MA, NH and Maine in search of them in the winter. Some years there are many, other years hardly any at all, so it is a difficult series because my inspiration depends on seeing them each year for a few months. My medium is soft pastel, and this snowy owl was underpainted with walnut ink and PanPastel, layering subsequent layers of soft pastel on the top of the underpainting. I enjoy showing showing only enough detail to let the viewer finish the story and like to leave the remainder loose and impressionist. I call it realism meeting impressionism in soft pastel.