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Winter Mist - Great Horned Owl By Robert Bateman

Winter Mist - Great Horned Owl by Robert Bateman

"Safety is not a problem for the owl. He has no real enemies except man. Security and peace are important during the day so that he will be alert for his hunting at night. The dense darkness of the pine provides the needed concealment. His bulky silhouette would show too clearly in deciduous trees, especially in winter."

"The owl is not hiding from a serious enemy. He simply does not want to be seen by a crow. Crows are very communicative and they seem to find owls, especially great horned owls, utterly reprehensible. The scolding can be heard for many square miles, and soon a huge mob has gathered to shout and pester without letup. This is the easiest way for me to find an owl. I let the crows do it for me. Many times I have tramped over hill and dale to join the mob. Usually the owl sees me first and floats away with the crows following in accelerated frenzy. They have good reason to dislike great horned owls. The owls eat crows at night."

"In this picture, I have shown the owl in his haughty, angry pose, as if he is staring down the contemptible crows. I wanted to achieve a sense of air and space behind the owl and to give an unstable, Oriental look to the composition with the white, empty space at the bottom."

“Most of my paintings are reconstructed from a variety of experiences and sources. But this incident actually took place outside our dining room window. It was on a foggy day during a midwinter thaw. “This is the time of year when great horned owls do much of their territorial hooting. Because it takes a long time for such a large owl to reach maturity they must begin nesting during the snows of late winter. Although they normally hoot at night, this particular day was so dull that a pair of them were actively flying and hooting outside our house. This vocalization accounts for the thrusting pose with the throat patch fluffed out."

“At first I painted this bird on a large interesting stump. However, in spite of the hours spent doing the texture of the stump, it gave the bird a posed, almost stuffed look. So I scraped down all my work and put in the diagonal branch to give it a dynamic thrust. The clump of beech leaves at the top of the picture is to emphasize the same effect.” ~ Robert Bateman

Winter Mist - Great Horned Owl by Robert Bateman is available for sale as a signed and numbered limited edition print with a 33-1/2 x 20 vertical image size priced at $___ unframed.

Canvas - Winter Mist - Great Horned Owl by Robert Bateman is also available for sale as a signed and numbered limited edition giclee canvas with a 33 x 20 vertical image size priced at $750 unframed.

Extra Large Canvas - Winter Mist - Great Horned Owl - is also available as a signed and numbered limited edition giclee canvas with a larger 38 x 23 vertical image size priced at $1,050 unframed.

Order yours today. All artwork is professionally boxed and insured and guaranteed to arrive in mint condition.

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