owl demo in progress

At the end of January I taught an Art lesson to our homeschool group co-op and did a quick demo on using oil pastels and watercolor.  I did a quick sketch of an owl and showed how to use a variety of colors, use watercolour over oil pastel and watercolour by itself.

When Leah Piken Kolidas announced that the theme for her Creative Every Day Challenge for the month of February, I decided to finish my owl painting. I went back in with more oil pastels over the rest of the trees and owl, then used a watercolor wash for the background, and then went back over some areas with colored pencil. This has sparked an interest for me to use owls as the subject matter for more artwork, although I am still working with my theme of shoes too.

"Night Flight", oil pastel and watercolour on paper

I usually work on several pieces of artwork at the same time so if I have to wait for paint to dry I can continue working on something else.  Also, sometimes I you just need to put my artwork down for a little while and give my subconscious time to work out any challenges.  Having something else to work on while I wait helps me to be more productive.