Whimsical Watercolor Owl Study

I love doing studies of other artist’s works in order to explore different styles and to further develop my own skills.  This was a painting that the Watercolor Misfit (on YouTube) had playing in the background of one of her videos.  I liked the way that this little owl looked so much that I had to try it out for myself.  This image really reminds me of something that would live inside the pages of a children’s story book.

The reason the owl below looks bumpy below is because I’ve covered it in masking fluid.  I’m not sure if it’s the quality of my paper, of the masking fluid, or simply the technique that I apply and remove it with, but I tend to tear up some of my paper whenever I try to remove masking fluid.  If anyone has any tips on that I’d very much appreciate to hear from you.

​I love the technique of building layer upon layer of paint that the Watercolor Misfit (or Carrie) uses.  It adds a lot more depth to any piece.

This illustration also includes a lot of negative space painting that I’ve touched on in a previous post.  Negative space painting in watercolor is when you paint darker colors around colors that you’ve already put down onto the paper.  So instead of painting an object, you’re painting around an object to make it become visible.

The last step is to remove that masking fluid and then paint in the owl and the branch.  I also really like using masking tape to create a crisp white frame around the image, this technique always seems to give the illustration a much more finished look.

I absolutely love the final result, so much so that I need to find a frame for this piece so that I can hang it in my home. 

If you’re into watercolor painting I’d highly recommend watching some of the watercolor Misfit’s videos, they’re very informative and I’ve learnt so much from her.

​© Ammara Cokar 2019