Why owls?

Why owls? Being a child of the 70s and early eighties, I grew up surrounded everything owl–owl necklaces, owl print fabric, owl figurines, owl candles, owl salt and pepper shakers, and owl shaped canisters. My Saturday morning cartoons were constantly interrupted by Mr. Owl’s very important research. In fact, I can still hear him counting in my mind at the sight or mention of a Tootsie Pop. I loved that commercial as much as I loved watching Hoozitz Owl in Shirt Tales, Starlite in Rainbow Brite, and Kowl in She-Ra.

Owls were pretty sweet back in the day: The Great Owl in The Secret of Nimh both amazed and terrified me, Woodsy Owl convinced me to lecture my friends to “Give a hoot–Don’t Pollute, and Winnie the Pooh’s Owl had a book collection that a girl like me could only dream of.

Of course, owls are popular once again, but that doesn’t really matter to me. The purpose of this blog is to help me further develop my drawing and illustrating skills, while providing me a fun escape from a stressful day-to-day life. I’ve been drawing owls since I was very young, and in doing so I have found escape from boring situations, focus in distracting situations, a sense of security during dangerous situations, and relief from the painful spasms of RLS.

Only after attending several years of conferences in which designers were encouraged to do things outside of their usual 9 to 5 to keep burnout at bay, sharpen skills, and open doors to new possibilities AND having a friend ask why I haven’t done anything with the many owls I’ve drawn over the years, did I realize that I NEEDED to let my birds fly. So here they are for your enjoyment.

All owls appearing on this blog remain the property of the illustrator. I ask that you request permission before reposting or copying any images you find here. If you would like to purchase my owls for personal or commercial use, you may do so by visiting my Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/AtomicOwls. If you don’t see the owl you’re after, just leave me a message here or on my Etsy shop. I’ll be adding downloadable files throughout the remainder of this project.