Mr. Otus Kennicottii

I think he's squinting at you in disbelief, this Western Screech-Owl (Otus kennicottii). He's pretty well life-sized. The Western Screech-Owl, common to woodlands throughout western North America, grows to be 8.5 inches or 22 cm tall. This one is the nourthwest coast type I would have seen when I lived on Vancouver Island. You can tell because he's more brown and less gray. All the raptors out there were very impressive. They gave the impression that they were just tolerating our presence and the Island really belonged to them.

I carved Mr. Otus Kennicottii in linoleum and printed him in water-based block printing ink, on Japanese kozo (or mulberry) paper, in an edition of six prints. Each print is 6 and a quarter by 12 and a half inches (15.9 cm by 31.8 cm).

I think I'm going to name owls Otus from now on (though their name in the other official language, le Petit-duc des montagnes kind of rocks too).