My Feathered Wildcat
Original Sculptural Abstract Painting
There is a reason owls are sometimes called feathered wildcats. Behind their extraordinary eyes lies a fierce, independent personality—an untamed presence that defies their often quiet appearance.
In My Feathered Wildcat, wildlife explorer and artist Rusty Johnson translates that character into color and texture. Two luminous amber eyes emerge from a turbulent landscape of rust, crimson, charcoal, and black. Thick, sculptural ridges convey the restless energy of a wild creature, while the smooth, unwavering gaze creates a striking contrast.
The painting captures the owl's spirit: watchful, unpredictable, fiercely alive.
The Story Behind the Painting
My Feathered Wildcat was inspired by Big Owl Capone, an extraordinary owl whose relationship with wildlife explorer and artist Rusty Johnson began when he hatched from an egg in Johnson's shirt pocket.
Hand-raised by Johnson, Big Owl Capone became far more than a companion. For over two decades, he accompanied Johnson to more than 3,000 wildlife lectures, appearing before audiences totaling well over a million people.
Through those years together, Johnson came to know the fierce, independent personality behind the owl's extraordinary eyes. Among bird people, owls are sometimes affectionately called feathered wildcats—a fitting description of the character that inspired this painting.
My Feathered Wildcat captures that spirit through intense amber eyes, powerful colors, and sculptural textures. It is a deeply personal expression of a remarkable relationship between an artist and an animal whose presence touched countless lives.
An Unconventional Collaboration
At first glance, the composition appears almost atmospheric. Soft blue gives way to pale peach tones and organic markings, creating a work seemingly shaped as much by chance as intention.
In a sense, it was.
At just 19, wildlife explorer and artist Rusty Johnson received a young male Andean condor from Maryland's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, where pioneering breeding research was helping save the critically endangered California condor. Their relationship has now spanned approximately three decades, and the bird remains alive today at a breeding facility in Nevada.
Years later, Johnson decided to create something entirely unconventional.
Andean condors possess a remarkable ability to project waste away from their cliffside perches. In falconry, this action is known as slicing. Johnson's condor could propel his nearly six feet.
Johnson painted a canvas blue with acrylic and mounted it vertically opposite the bird's favorite perch.
The artist supplied the canvas. The condor supplied the composition.
And the medium? What falconers call mute.
In everyday language, condor droppings.
The finished work was protected with a clear acrylic coating, preserving an unrepeatable collaboration between artist and animal.
For the collector seeking something truly extraordinary, this is more than an original abstract painting. It is a one-of-a-kind work created through the natural behavior of one of the world's most remarkable and endangered birds.
A piece with extraordinary provenance, unexpected humor, and a story guaranteed to start a conversation.
Keeper of the Castle
Fine-Art Photography · Limited Collector's Edition
Suspended in flight against imposing stone architecture and a dramatic sky, Brisa, a Harris's hawk, commands the frame. Wings extended, talons forward, and eyes fixed with unmistakable intensity, she appears less a visitor than a guardian of the castle walls behind her.
The photograph captures the power, independence, and untamed spirit of a bird of prey, reflecting wildlife explorer and falconer Rusty Johnson's lifelong relationship with these remarkable animals.
Keeper of the Castle is offered as an exclusive collector's edition of just five signed and individually numbered archival pigment prints. Once the edition is sold, no additional prints will be produced.
A Limited Collector's Edition
Five signed and numbered archival pigment prints. No additional editions.
$5,000
EDITION OF FIVE
The Artist
A Life Beyond the Ordinary
Rusty Johnson with His Excellency Dr. Shankar Prasad Sharma, then Ambassador of Nepal to the United States, at The Explorers Club Gala in Washington, D.C., where Johnson was the evening's guest speaker.
Rusty Johnson's artistic expression is shaped by a lifetime spent in the company of the extraordinary.
Wildlife explorer, falconer, author, and television personality, Johnson became one of the youngest members inducted into The Explorers Club. His career has taken him from the remote reaches of the Peruvian Amazon to pioneering wildlife conservation projects and encounters with some of the world's most remarkable animals.
Over the course of three decades, Johnson has delivered more than 3,000 wildlife lectures, worked alongside legendary naturalists, and brought his adventures to television audiences through the Travel Channel series Hotel Amazon.
His artwork draws upon these experiences, translating the character, energy, and spirit of the natural world into expressive paintings, unconventional artistic collaborations, and fine-art photography.
Each work reflects a life immersed in nature rather than one spent observing it from a distance.