INSPIRATION

When I googled “endangered animals hope,” I found articles about species that have made a comeback. One of them is the humpback whale. That would be an easy form to paint and would allow me to experiment with style. I want to paint so that:

• parts are watery – wet into wet
• colors are transparent
• part of the paper is visible
• I avoid point of interest in that hard to reach center
• the animal is less realistic and more vivid

image source from scubadiving.com. Craig Lambert photography.

species info

STRATEGY

• whites: all the water bubbles
• paint transparent blue on everything not a whale or water feature
• whale body in light blue (lots of water!)
• Shadows on body
• Blue-gray on darker parts. PAINT EYE FIRST. NOTICE WHERE STRIPES are LIGHT.
• Finish eye

CREATION

session logs

1. I painted three fourths of the water today. Water first and then pigment. Because my reach is limited, I have to do a section at a time, which results in what could be overworking. I found a wonderful color blue. (That’s pretty funny; Dragon took that as a command to change the type color.) I started in to the bubbles area and found myself painting round shapes. Decided to stop at that point and start from there next time.

And at That point, I forgot all about keeping notes… Maybe next time?

Now I am looking at the completed project. I remember being very frustrated when I tried to paint stripes and wasn’t able to keep things neat. I am happy with the way the splashes worked out. Lots of time spent painting blue, so that was nice.

INSIGHT

• I’ve learned that I get lost in the process, which is a good thing. I am happy that I can continue painting, even if it’s not always graceful.
• My husband has redesigned my painting area to make it easier and more accessible. We’ll see how things change.
• What if, instead of imagining a different style, I just accepted whatever comes out of the brush? I feel my whole body relax at the thought.
• Coming back to the easel is an act of hope. Hope that I will still be able to create something beautiful. Hope that I continue to see the world through the eyes of an artist.