Red grouse feature on CLA Game Fair official show guide

The winning image was particularly relevant for this year’s event, located at Harewood House in Yorkshire, a county which has large populations of red grouse on its heather moorlands.

Owen is highly regarded for his atmospheric watercolours portraying animals and birds such as stags, woodcock, grouse and snipe. He is also director of the Woodcock Network and is well known for his work ringing and tagging woodcock on his site in Wales.

The striking watercolour is a detail from a larger work and was picked as the winner thanks to its drama, movement and unique ‘splash’ style that differs from the artist’s traditional sporting landscapes.

Commented Owen: “Having exhibited my work at the CLA Game Fair for the past 30 years it is a great accolade to have been chosen as winner of the competition and I’m very excited about seeing my work in print. For anyone that wants to see the painting in its original form it will be on display on the Redspot Artists stand, along with other examples of my work and that of my fellow Redspot Artists so do come along and say hello!”

Influenced by fieldsports

The competion was open to all artists exhibiting at last year’s event and to those submitting an application for this year. Entrants were asked to submit a piece of art in colour that followed a British countryside theme, was influenced by fieldsports or game and which depicted the essence of the CLA Game Fair.

Charlie Thomas, PR & Marketing Manager of the CLA Game Fair and one of the judges, commented: “Owen’s superb image of a flying grouse is a very worthy winner of our cover competition. As well as being absolutely stunning it will also give our show guide immense local relevance.”