Reuben Oates

This particular painting is really special to me. On the way home one evening a Boobook owl was in the middle of the road and I accidently hit it with my car. I pulled over and put the injured owl into my jumper and held it all the way home. I contacted the Wildlife Rescue and delivered the owl the following morning. I didn’t think I would hear back from them and was unsure if the owl would survive. Later that week they contacted me, sent me photos of the owl and gave me an update on its progress. It had survived and had a bruised wing. After they nurtured the owl back to health they told me, I would be the one releasing the owl back into the wild. From my home in Mountain River, Tasmania I can see the Southern Cross at night and I have included it in the night sky of my painting.