Kelp 8"x8" Oil/Linen plein air
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| "Santa Barbara Seaside" | |
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| A ray swims below me. | |
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| A playful sea lion "buzzes" me. |
This 8"x8" painting called "Kelp" was painted from the top deck of the dive boat, Conception, looking down into the sparkling sea. "Kelp" was the second of three paintings painted on this day. "Island Dawn" was painted in the early morning. "Santa Barbara Seaside" was a study painted in the winds of day one while we were still anchored off of Santa Barbara Island.
Either I was exposed before I left, or
painting out in the wind on that first day and evening did it, but by
day 2 I knew I was coming down with a cold. I'm sure all of you know
that feeling. You're just not yourself. You're not really
"present". I had the miserable cold the whole rest of the trip.
There wasn't much I could do about it except forge ahead. I was there
in the middle of the island paradise adventure and the best I could hope
for was to get the most of the experience and hope not to infect the
entire boatload of artist friends (or die of pneumonia).
I had rented a wetsuit and snorkel outfit. Couldn't let that go to waste. I was already sick so I went snorkeling. I went kayaking, I painted. I tried to absorb as much of the experience as I could despite the cold. It wasn't the trip I had hoped for, but It was all I had so I did as much as I could of the boat activities, except the nighttime hilarity. I went to my bunk and slept, and slept and slept ---- all night --- every night. Not as much singing, and story telling and night-time activities.
I had rented a wetsuit and snorkel outfit. Couldn't let that go to waste. I was already sick so I went snorkeling. I went kayaking, I painted. I tried to absorb as much of the experience as I could despite the cold. It wasn't the trip I had hoped for, but It was all I had so I did as much as I could of the boat activities, except the nighttime hilarity. I went to my bunk and slept, and slept and slept ---- all night --- every night. Not as much singing, and story telling and night-time activities.
David Gallup, who once again lead this painting adventure, often tells us that half of what a painter needs to create beautiful paintings (once they have pretty much mastered the technical skills) is to absorb life and beauty around you. The more you can store in your soul, the more you can call on it when you're painting.
And so I did. (And look... I'm still here and nobody else seemed to catch the cold from me!)
I've been really so busy getting ready for and enjoying my one woman show reception called "One Lucky Artist at Gale's Restaurant" that I haven't had time to blog about how it went. I'll be sure to do that in my next post.
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