Owls

Playing with and sketching owls today. I have a love of owls. 

The guardian, beautiful and wise.

They have such a mystique about them.

Symbolically they represent: 

wisdom 

mystery

 transition 

messages 

intelligence 

mysticism 

protection

and 

secrets

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I have made owl ornaments which you can find on my textile and handmade page but I have never put them on paper or canvas. 

I keep plenty of doodles in my sketchbook and have been meaning to explore other mediums. 

For fun I made a rubber stamp of an owl using an artist carving block. 

You can also use a linoleum block or a potato for this relief process of printing. 

This brings me back to my college printmaking class. What comes to mind is that the tools were scary and dangerous, but what they produced was pure beauty. 

For printing inks I like textile block printing ink. 

I did some test printing to see how it will look printed. 

I do love the beauty of imperfection so I am not going for totally clean edges, just a cleaner background.

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First test needs a bit of clean up.

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Final stamp after clean up.

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I love how this turned out. I want to make more art with this stamp. I am not done yet but wanted to share. Illustration Friday has a the theme of hibernation this week. I guess it makes sense that I am thinking about the woodlands, the forest, animals and birds. Come to find out that owls do not hibernate. I would love to work the owl into my illustration somehow. 
More exploration and art to make. 
If you have a love of owls stop by the My Owl Barn website, it is truly delightful. Enjoy.

Three Owls                                                                                                      Deborah Velásquez©2011