Owl
 

Here is a 23" x 19" pastel of a Short Eared Owl. Let know what you think? Any suggestions prior to framing?

Let's try that again, shall we? Sorry!

That's better, but the colors are still quite muted.

This is a strong painting. Good job. Whether it is a wildlife painting or portrait we need to treat the composition the same. Break it down to mega simple shapes and see how it looks to you. Would those trees serve the center of interest more if they were at different angles or places? Does your owl feel like it can really fly off the page or do those trees hold him in place due to them being so "static". They are the same distance from the borders and at pretty much the same angle as the owl. Let's stir it up here and give your painting some peeezzaazz!

Wonderful suggestions! Thank you. As soon as I posted it, it gave me a completely different perspective that staring 18 inches away didn't give. Even photographing it, I didn't see the things that needed "tweaking" that I do now. I'll repost in a few days. It's interesting you should note the trees being so uniform and evenly placed since that's the first "broken rule" my first art teacher scolded me about years ago! HA! Thus history repeats itself.