The Quiet Joy of Being

I painted this little barn owl for a BirdLife Australia exhibition called 'Joy'.

While my initial reflex when reading about the exhibition subject was to reference one or more of our incredible, and incredibly clownish parrots, I decided to reflect on a quieter joy. 
Barn owls make me happy. I can’t entirely explain why, but perhaps it is because they initially come off as muted and quiet, a ghostly elegance I never get to witness living in the city. But given a second glance, the details and colour of their feathers are beautiful, and their overly large head atop a seemingly tiny body is rather comical. Painting them brings me incredible joy, and as with previous owl paintings, this one didn’t fail to take me away from the chaos of the world around me. 

This is a painting on canvas board, which is thin enough to frame. It will be mailed flat-packed.