( A work in progress )

“ ‘Last Light ~ Barred Owl,’ an original acrylic painting, copyright artist Susan Walton, of S. A. Walton Studio, captures the ethereal beauty of dusk, where the steady gaze of a barred owl beckons us into a realm of tranquility and introspection. This captivating piece, meticulously painted on a stretched, gallery-wrapped cotton canvas, speaks peacefully of the promise of life and renewal.”

My art studio, S. A.Walton Studio, sits in the encircling arms of a slough full of cypress, sweet gum, magnolia, and holly, very close to the western or “Nature Coast “ of Florida. This means that it is my pleasure to hear a pair of highly vocal barred owls nearly every evening. They aren’t too difficult to call in closer, even by my admittedly awful imitation of their “Who cooks for you, who cooks for you aaaaaaaaaaall” call. It is an owl with a Southern drawl, and it hunts a surprising variety of foods, not just the expected small rodents, but frogs, snakes, and crayfish, too.

One evening, while waiting for the usual spectacle of wild turkeys flying up to roost in the long leaf pines for the night, and while watching bats making frantic circuits in the sunset sky overhead in pursuit of unseen flying insects, a neighbor put his calling skills to work for us by holding a raucous conversation with an owl that was far up the slough. It wasn’t long before the owl began to move toward us, pausing now and then to chat.

Within a few minutes, it landed roughly on a telephone pole and looked us up and down. Clearly disappointed that there were no owls in our company, it took off again, but not before I had a chance to snap some blurry photos of it.

Later that night I did a quick sketch from memory, and instead of the telephone pole, I sketched it as it would look if it were on a vine or winding limb in a more interesting tree that I had seen in the swamp.

In the contemporary painting that resulted, lichens grow on the bark of a southern magnolia on the left, including the rosy-red Christmas Lichen that is so common in Florida swamps. This tree is adorned other lichens as well as with resurrection fern, and you can tell that it has rained not long ago, because the ferns’ fronds are a lively green and are fully unfurled.

The tree on the right side of the painting supports a trumpet vine, a native plant of the American Southeast. This nature scene is further enhanced with delicate wild orchids growing on the tree behind the owl. In the background is a stunning magenta, violet purple and blue sky with emerging stars, while the last rays of the setting sun gild the limb the owl is perching on in a warm, golden glow.

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