Not this owl. But another. One that I had started to paint with some poster paints that I got from a local art store. I was happy painting my owl, and was nearly finished with it before some extended family member destroyed it by drawing a cross hair on it. As if it were being aimed at through a rifle scope. I’m sure I was in second or first grade. In my mind the owl was dead. I never returned to painting until I was in art class, years later when n my adolescent years. I’ve done a lot of painting since then. I had never really thought about it before but I was always reluctant to just paint. For the sake of painting. I only painted when it was for work. I believe that event however insignificant it was for the perpetrator of the crime, was a devastating blow to my artistic development as a painter. I still continued to draw and sculpt things as well as building stuff. I would have been much better off painting. I have also never painted an owl since. Until tonight. I don’t often get to paint just for myself except the live streams I do. When I do paint for myself I’m taking time away from my commission work. It’s only an hour for the lives, but it’s not work. I experiment with techniques on my own agenda, but explain the process of getting a likeness to the viewer. As well as some basic color blending methods. The experimental work is me trying to achieve subtle skin variations and color temperature. Practice for my commission portraits. My playtime online is serving two purposes. Instruction to you on my method for getting a likeness and sharpening my skin tone and color combinations. I truly love painting and will continue to do so until my dying day. Thanks for all the support and see ya next time .

~Artist, Mike Packer.