For the past 2 years I’ve entered the BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year competition and have been lucky enough to make it through to the finals each time (with my Golden Eagle in 2011 and my Grey Heron in 2012), receiving commendations from the judges.
This year, I’ve really thought about what was lacking in my previous two entries and tried my best to come up with something that would give me the best chance of finally bagging a win. I realised that there wasn’t much movement, drama or story in my previous entries so have tried to incorporate all three elements this year.
For my 2013 entry I’m going to be creating a collage of a Great Grey Owl and so far I’ve finalised my sketch/composition (see above) and have transferred the drawing to the art board ready to start collaging.
You’ll notice that at the last minute I decided to change the right wing of the owl to a more horizontal position rather than vertical. I thought this made for a better composition and also a more imposing figure as he bears down on his prey – I did keep the tilt of the body though to show how he silently corrects his position as he goes in for the kill.
The final collage measures a whopping 80 x 45cm (the largest piece I’ve ever worked on) and the deadline for entries is the 28th February, so I better get my skates on.
I’ll post more pics on the blog as the collage progresses.
