Caught in the Act, creation story with owl

Caught in the Act is a very large oil painting of an idyllic alpine scene exploding out of a deep blue canvas. It is 48x48x1.5 inches. A white owl can be seen to the left looking back at us as if she has been caught in the act of creating the landscape itself. She looks surprised. In the background there are snow tipped mountains with a green valley and pine trees on the slopes descending from them. A river is running through the middle of the valley where in the foreground it becomes a waterfall surrounded by wildflowers in rainbow colours. The edges of the painting are dark blue which heightens the vibrancy of the drips and blobs of paint emerging from the scenery. I like the idea something being in the process of being formed as it parallels the whole practice of painting something – whereby you think of something you want to paint and then try to make it appear by moving paint around! This is another in a series of paintings I have made inspired by the Interlaken area of Switzerland. It is painted on deep edge canvas, dark blue, does not need a frame and is ready to hang.

Gill Bustamante