Midnight Reign (Barking Owl) – SOLD

Midnight Reign (Barking Owl) Original Fumage and Watercolour on 425gsm cellulose archival paper 31cm x 40cm – SOLD

Maegan’s Inspiration: “In the late summer after dusk when the moon comes up it truly is a feast for our wildlife! I’ve been lucky enough to see a Barking Owl up the back of the property, well I heard him first as their call is quite distinctive and I was admiring his hunting skills. I find that most animals feel the energy of the storm rolling in and make the most of it and while there are lots of bugs around in the warm night air, one insect in particular is the Rain Moth. They are rather giant things but very gentle to hold, they are a strong sign of rain to come but until then the owl reigns in these skies”.

“Painting with Fire” is the technique of dancing an open flame underneath paper to leave a layer of soot and etching it away with various tools. Sometimes metallics such as copper, gold and silver are interwoven into the artwork. Maegan sketches a composite of the subject as a guideline to manage proportions for accuracy. A flame is then applied from several sources (such as candles, fossil fuels, wood etc.) carbon soot is then layered onto the sketch. Maegan then painstakingly removes layers by etching with various tools including brushes, hand tools and erasers. It is an extremely delicate and lengthy process.  Maegan has a Bachelor of Design Arts with majors in Graphic design and Visual Arts. Having grown up with many animals on a goat farm in rural Queensland she developed a respect for all animal life and observed a significant and worrying decline in our natural world. Her passion for animals and her natural artistic ability has led to her creation of “Painting with Fire”. Working with natural materials and utilising layers of soot from burning candles over her sketches of the animal’s portraits she painstakingly removes layers by etching with various tools. It is a delicate and lengthy process but the resulting animal portrait is well worth it giving each one the voice it truly deserves. Maegan has been accepted as an Associate Member of the Society of Animal Artists. She has been a finalist in several prestigious competitions including the Holmes Prize for Realistic Bird Art and Internationally in the Art Renewal Centres 15^th and 16^th International Salon Competitions.

Original artwork by Maegan Oberhardt ARC Living Artist.

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