MEGAN ASHMAN GALLERY
EXPERIENCE ART AS MAGIC
ORIGINAL MIXED-MEDIA ARTWORK
Little Owl
Megan Ashman
250
PUBLISHED
SIZE
8x8
MEDIUM
Mixed media on canvas
COLLECTION
Animals & Insects, Nature, Elements & Seasons, Places & Spaces, Emotion & Themes, Psychedelic & Surreal, Spirit & Dreams, Abstract & Concepts
SUBCOLLECTION
Owls, Birds, Forests, Spring, Realms, Dark & Haunting, Hands & Eyes, Textured & Found Objects
YEAR
✦
Secure Checkout
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Carefully Packaged
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Certificate of Authenticity
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Direct Studio Support
ABOUT THE WORK
Artwork Description
Two barn owls emerge from a surface that remembers every autumn that ever was—rust and coral bleeding into mint, oxidized copper meeting spring green in impossible conversation.
The owls watch with their perfect heart-shaped faces, those dark eyes holding the kind of attention that sees through skin to the small frightened mammal beneath.
Their feathers render with such precision they seem ready to ruffle, yet they're embedded in chaos—splattered paint and torn ephemera, ladder fragments leading nowhere, dried grasses that once grew somewhere specific.
The background pulses with texture like bark or weathered barn wood, like the interior walls of abandoned structures where owls make their silent homes.
These are not the grand horned philosophers of midnight forests but the smaller cousins, the ones who nest in human spaces, who hunt the margins between wild and domestic.
They bring rodent bones to their young in haylofts.
They watch from rafters while we sleep in rooms below.
The painting understands their particular intimacy with human space—how they haunt our structures without ever becoming ours, how they tolerate proximity while remaining entirely other.
The mint green erupts like new growth through decay, spring asserting itself through autumn's dominance.
Every splatter is deliberate chaos.
Every layer speaks of time passing, surfaces weathering, the slow collaboration between intention and entropy that creates beauty from breakdown.
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HOW IT WAS MADE
Materials & Process
mediums/materials: phosphorescent paints, found objects, paper, wax, photo collage, oxidative inks, distress paint and inks, acrylic pouring, digitally altered images, acrylic paint, watercolor, spray paint, walnut ink, staining mediums, tissue paper, mica powders, glitter, heavy gel medium, gesso, pebeo prism and fantasy paints, ceramic paint, stained glass paint, alcohol inks, iridescent inks, distress crayons, charcoal, pastels, oil pastels, string, beads, jewelry, gems, chains, buttons, foils, newspaper, vinyl, plastic, walnut inks, india ink, colorshift paints and more!
THE ARTIST'S VOICE
Interpretation / Story
This work explores the concept of threshold species—creatures who thrive in the spaces between human and wild, who benefit from our structures without submitting to domestication. Barn owls represent a particular kind of coexistence: they use our buildings, tolerate our proximity, provide rodent control services, yet remain fundamentally untamable. The piece asks what it means to live alongside without belonging to, to haunt the margins without ever coming to the center. The paired owls suggest how relationships exist in these liminal spaces—bonds formed in abandonment, companionship in places humans have left behind. The weathered, oxidized surface speaks to time's patient work, how structures decay and in that decay become habitable by different forms of life. What we call ruin might be another species' opportunity, our endings their beginnings. The combination of precision (the owls' detailed rendering) with chaos (the splattered, layered background) mirrors how wildness and intention coexist—the biological perfection of predatory adaptation set against the random accumulation of materials and time. The mint green eruptions offer hope: even in the most oxidized, decayed, abandoned spaces, new growth finds purchase. The small scale of this piece mirrors the intimate scale of barn owl life—these are not the mythic great horned owls of deep forest but the smaller hunters of human margins, and their stories unfold in compact spaces, in corners and rafters and the quiet places we've forgotten to monitor. ```
WHAT LIVES INSIDE
Hidden Images & Symbolic Elements
The barn owl's heart-shaped facial disc is perfectly designed to funnel sound to asymmetrically placed ears, allowing them to hunt in complete darkness by sound alone. Their presence here suggests themes of seeing and hearing what others miss, perceiving hidden truths, navigating by senses beyond sight. The pairing of two owls introduces relationship—mated pairs, siblings, parent and offspring—and questions of companionship in liminal spaces. Are they watching together or watching each other? The ladder fragments scattered throughout reference ascension, access to higher realms, climbing between worlds or states of consciousness. Broken ladders suggest paths that once led somewhere but no longer function, failed attempts at transcendence. The dried grasses and reed elements speak to natural materials brought into human spaces—nest building, the merging of wild necessity with architectural opportunity. Owls don't build but rather appropriate what others have made, a form of reclamation and adaptation. The heavy oxidation and rust colors evoke old barns, metal roofs weathering, the slow breakdown of agricultural structures. These are the spaces owls colonize—human absence creating opportunity for wild presence. The mint green breaking through suggests renewal, how nature reasserts itself the moment human attention lapses. The splattered paint technique creates the chaos of real life in these marginal spaces—not the pristine wilderness but the messy boundary zones where species negotiate coexistence. ```
BEFORE YOU COLLECT
Framing & Shipping Notes
01
ORIGINAL ARTWORK
This is the one-of-a-kind original, hand-created by Megan Ashman. No prints or reproductions are sold as originals.
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SHIPS CAREFULLY PACKAGED
Each work is packed with archival materials and shipped with care. Insurance and tracking are included with every order.
03
FRAMING
This work ships unframed. Framing advice is available on request — we can suggest dimensions that suit the piece and your display context.
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QUESTIONS BEFORE PURCHASING
Collectors are warmly encouraged to contact the studio before purchasing. We welcome all questions about scale, display, and condition.
PRIVATE COLLECTOR SUPPORT
Need to see more before collecting?
Request additional images, ask about scale and display, or schedule a private studio visit.