Plowed Field - Snowy Owl

The snowy owl breeds in the Arctic and comes down to more southern latitudes most winters. They tend to stay in wintery countryside rather than go all the way to the southern states, but the countryside is often snow-covered farmland of southern Canada and the northern United States.

One of the farming practices in our part of the world is to plow the land after harvest and leave it broken up in furrows throughout the winter. This aerates the soil and helps to improve the texture the following season. When the snow covers a plowed field, it helps to emphasize all the shapes and forms that have been created in an apparently haphazard fashion. These are the kinds of accidental rhythms and patterns I enjoy painting. It is also the kind of place that a snowy owl might be found looking for a meal of a mouse.