Painting From a Kayak by Southern California Artist, Marian Fortunati

Kayaking Cueva Valdez © Marian Fortunati 6"x8" Oil/Canvas Panel

While anchored in the Cueva Valdez anchorage on Santa Cruz Island, all of us had many options for passing our time.   Some napped.   Some painted from the ship.   Some kayaked to the shore inside this cave and painted looking out toward the ship.   Some opted to get a massage.. (Yes, we had a masseuse on board!)  Some snorkeled or scuba dove.

We ALL enjoyed delicious gourmet meals (breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner).   At Cueva Valdez we had a great and unusual lunch… Mangoes with curried shrimp and rice with cocoa nut milk.   Spinach salad with peanut butter dressing.  Yum!  Hip Hip Hooray for the chefs!!

Of course we all did many different things... trying to pack as many new adventures into our experiences as possible.

On our Channel Islands trip last year, Rich Brimer, was the only painter who tried painting from a kayak.   This year I tried it.... and so did many others.   Of course trying to balance your paints, palettes, brushes and canvas on your lap was really a trick.   But the thrill was... I did it!!! And so did the others.   Mary Gail took her tiny water color kit out on the kayak.   (Several people thought she was looking in a mirror to adjust her make up... It was funny!)   I would have thought water color would be an easier medium in those circumstances, but she pointed out that the salt water did strange things to the water color... whereas those of us using oil paints, simply patted the water off our canvas panel and moved on each time we got splashed.

This tiny 6x8 was my first attempt to paint from a kayak.   I found a huge bed of seaweed, paddled right into the middle of it and was set for a bit until I finished the study.   The seaweed anchored me so I didn't have to fight the surges and shifts of directions or drifting I would have otherwise.

I will try to include a little video I took from the kayak.   It's short but sort of fun.    I wanted to study the way the water falls off the rocks as it rushes up then comes trickling back.    After the video is a little study of a similar scene where I tried to capture the way the water looks as it comes back down into the sea.

	Rush To The Sea © Marian Fortunati 6"x8" Oil on RayMar Linen Click on the link above for details and PayPal information.

The second video is even shorter, but if you listen you can hear the sea lions playing alongside us and in the caves!


 

Hope you didn't get too seasick.... Handling the camera (which wasn't waterproof) AND the kayak at the same time was a bit much. Next year I'll have a WATERPROOF camera!!! (I can take pictures underwater then too... Way cool.)

Comment on or Share this Article