We walked down a washed out road until we stood on a landing. Mary and I watched the light fade from the sky. Perched in a black oak tree, another hunter joined us. It was a solitary great horned owl beginning it’s evening hunt.
“Dreaming of the Night”, pen and ink of Kowanni the great horned owl.
Kowanni, as it turns out is female. She’s about twenty-one years old according to her handler Hollianne. She came to Shasta Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation after suffering a permanent wing injury from being electrocuted on a utility pole. She’s been with Hollianne for about two years as she has outlived her original handler. Not only is she an animal ambassador she’s also a foster-mother. When SWRR get great horned owl chicks brought in they are placed with Kowanni and an old male owl named Captain to be raised. Less human contact with the youngsters make them easier to return to the wild. Many of the rescued animals live at home with their handlers for the rest of their lives if they are unable to return to the wild. It’s a beautiful ministry they do for their animal charges.
Kowanni and Hollianne.
Hollianne was kind enough to let me get my picture taken with Kowanni.
Here an update for Kowanni the great horned owl. I’m planning to finish tonight!
I’ve added my previous progression pictures and the original photo of Kowanni for fun. Although, they aren’t very illustrative of my process other than I draw when I can. By the way, don’t you think Bliss is a great photo prop. She kind of doesn’t really like it. This is the look I get just before she gets up and leaves.
Inking the night!
I thought maybe a woody update would be cool, not sure it’s working. Bliss just wasn’t into it.
Jury duty sketching.
This is the real Kowanni. In case you missed my last post, he’s a resident of Shasta Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation. Actually I’m not sure if Kowanni is a him or her. Sadly, he’s not capable of hunting so will never be released. I want to portray Kowanni as he is meant to be.
This weekend is the Shasta Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Open House. Mary and I will be attending for Red Tail Publishing. We sell children’s books and art prints. This year I decide to do a special art print of a special owl. Here’s a work in progress of Kowanni the great horned owl. It’s the same picture I was working on at jury duty.
Kowanni is a resident at SWRR because he can’t be returned to the wild due to the nature of his injury which left him unable to hunt. I took a photo of him last year at the event in his capacity of animal ambassador.
Here’s Kowanni on his perch. My drawing is of him where I imagine he would want to be if he could. Stay tuned for updates.
If you’re around on Saturday come on down.
Mary and I took a trip to Alaska last spring to spend time with family. While traveling from Fairbanks to the coast we took an afternoon to visit Denali National Park. It was the pre-season and the tour buses weren’t running yet. Therefore, we were able to drive 30 miles into the park. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and we weren’t to see the mountain. On the positive side we were able to stop anytime we wanted to take pictures. In fact, our little group did so well spotting wildlife that we soon had a caravan of vehicles pulling off the road behind us so they could see the wildlife we found. The gallery below is just a few of the wonderful sights we enjoyed. Just click on the photos to enlarge them.
This was our first trip to Alaska, but won’t be our last. We had a terrific time. We were there for a week. These shots were just from one afternoon. Stay tuned for more pictures from Alaska.
Just a great horned owl on twilight patrol.
THE FORESTER ARTIST 