top of page

Vantage View, Snowy Owl

Oil and Acrylic Painting featuring Landscapes, Nature, and Wildlife
​
This site introduces to the world the art of George Van Humbeck, artist, painter, naturalist, and teacher. Besides visual links to his art this site also gives details about the process of creating fine works of art for the artist community, beginner or advanced, acrylic or oil painting. 

2004

Acrylic on Panel

48 x 32

Vantage View Snowy Owl small.jpg

What a gem I found; a true split rail fence. I made its discovery in 1984 while living outside of Orangeville, Ontario. It was a typical winter day just after a heavy snowfall when I was out with my camera and some Kodachrome slide film (I do miss it). Metering against all that white can be tricky. I'm not sure back then that I had thought about it as subject matter for a painting, but twenty years later I did. Let this be a lesson to you; don't through away your old reference materials. You never know.

Perhaps it was just my inexperience influencing me because I could not see my way to painting the snow and sky as it was the day it was photographed. So I invented a later

Vantage View Snowy Owl detail.tif

 evening setting. Admittedly, I must say that I was influenced by Harry Potter, although even without I'm sure you would agree that it was a natural perch for the species. When it came time to finalizing "Hedwig" I went through several cut-out drawings until I found the right pose and size. To me the snowy owl seem to always display a regal attitude, and even though they are always aware of the environment, I did not want her looking at the viewer, so I chose to have her looking just over the viewer. I developed a habit when painting wildlife. Once the figure is blocked in I like to complete the eyes before moving on the the rest of the form.  With the windows to their souls complete the rest of the figure seems to come easier.

bottom of page