Waiting for Mum
A quiet moment of woodland wonder under the canopy.
A charming and deeply expressive original piece featuring a baby owl keeping watch in the moonlight.
From the intricate, textured details of its feathers to those unforgettably wide, hopeful eyes, ‘Waiting for Mum‘ tells a timeless story of the forest.
Hand-inked and brought to life with soft watercolour and moonlight, ‘Waiting for Mum’ is a celebration of nature’s smallest, most precious moments.
The Inspiration
A love of owls and purchasing this adorable little owl stamp were the starting point for this picture.
The image reminded me a lot of the little barn owl, ‘Plop’ from ‘The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark’ by Jill Tomlinson. Plop is tasked with finding out why the dark is good and is often found sitting waiting for mum or dad to return with food. And so the image in my head transfered to the card. Whilst this little one is not a barn owl it was still inspired by one.
The Craft
‘Waiting for Mum’ started life as a background. The background was created by blending a blue ink around the piece of card and over a round stencil. Using a hill stencil and a different blue I created hills at the bottom of the card to give a perspective. Yellow ink was carefully applied with a stencil brush to create the glowing full moon.
The branches were stamped next and then the careful job of positioning the little owl. Different shades of of green ink were then used to add the foliage to create the illusion of sitting amongst the foliage. Then it was the fun bit of using the watercolour pencils to build the feathers and posca pen to add detail to the little owl. Followed by the compulsory bit of glitter for that added sparkle and magic.