Art Commission: "Dream Owl"
Commissioned by the lovely Lampblack.
"Dream Owl" by Cóz
Original Art.
Summary: Feathers and dreams.
Notes: Animals and mythology are immediate hooks for me. It's one of the only times where I can relax and be as creative as wish, without everything dissolving into frustration and anger.
I guess there was something of a barn owl and a great horned owl in my head. A bit of this and that. More imagination than any particular breed.
While I was sketching, I was also listening to an archived BBC radio program from 2008. It was called "The Voices in My Head" and was put together by the actor Julian Rhind-Tutt. It covered the different ways we (and especially actors) perceive our own voices and the voices of others. One of the clips he used was a reading of D.H. Lawrence's "The Snake". It was absolutely breathtaking.
I have physical memory of that poem now, of that particular reading. I know exactly where my pencil was on the page as each word was spoken.
I've isolated the poem and put it up for download. Honestly, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Have a listen.
The dreamcatcher in the owl's beak is partially based on one from my own childhood. It was quite a complicated star design originally, and I couldn't possibly mimic it correctly. . . especially now that it's broken and partially pulled away from the frame. Still, something of it is in there. Just an impression.