Beware the false flatterer
So you know the story, a night owl is someone who stays wake at night, either partying hard, working, perhaps reading or, like me, painting! The name as you have no doubt guessed is because owls are nocturnal.
There is a fable ( Aesop ) about an owl whose sleep during the day is disturbed by a grasshopper and its chirping. It is about flattery. Be careful of flattery.
After a night hunting the owl is trying to get a bit of shut eye and is irritated by the grasshoppers chirping away the owl asks her to stop. She says impertinently that she will not!
So the owl raises her game and tells the grasshopper that since her song is so sweet, she may as well stay awake and listen to it. While she does, she suggests to the grasshopper that she should join her for drop of wine. In fact, she tells the grasshopper it's a lovely vintage sent to her from Olympus, "I believe Apollo (Greek sun god) drinks it before he sings to the gods," she informs the grasshopper.
Well, the grasshopper is a bit of a lush and, liking the praise of her voice, comes up to the the owl to join her for a drink.
The owl promptly seizes her and puts her to death!
A moral both about the dangers of flattery and disturbing this hard-to-wake owl's sleep.
This painting of the night owl, like the rest of my Nocturnal Collection, features a lot of Prussian Blue. In the wings, I put a dash of Hookers Green and there is a bit of Cobalt Turquoise (which is gorgeous - one day I will do a whole painting in that pigment!). Just the Quinacridone Gold to go on the edge details....done!
See the finished piece and the rest of the night time wonders here