This oil painting was commissioned for the Vanderpoel collection. I was happy to do it as it was an opportunity to revisit a previous painting, “Tidal Churning”. As popular as that work was, I saw this commission as an opportunity to improve on the rendering of that special moment. In the first work, I used acrylic paints. In this work, I painted with oils. Many hours were spent up at night, studying just how to capture the essence of the sea foam as it crashed and lapped against the wonderful sea life clinging to the rocks during low tide.
It was evening and the sun was getting ready to set in about a half an hour. The special warm light of the setting sun offered a cozy setting. The ocean creatures were aglow with the dusk ambiance. I thought it was wonderful how the anemone tentacles, because of their translucence, absorbed the mood of this evening spectrum and began to glisten with it. Watching the sea foam run off the rocks and around the muscles and seaweed gave me a sense of being refreshed. The receding frothy salt water trickled and sparkled around the lumps and bumps made up of sea moss, “china man hats” (chiton), seaweed, muscles, barnacles, sea grass and sea stars. As the late sunrays penetrated the greenish, gray waters it made me want to dive in and commune with the creatures of the sea. Sadly but gladly I am not so close a part of their ecological system as that.
It was evening and the sun was getting ready to set in about a half an hour. The special warm light of the setting sun offered a cozy setting. The ocean creatures were aglow with the dusk ambiance. I thought it was wonderful how the anemone tentacles, because of their translucence, absorbed the mood of this evening spectrum and began to glisten with it. Watching the sea foam run off the rocks and around the muscles and seaweed gave me a sense of being refreshed. The receding frothy salt water trickled and sparkled around the lumps and bumps made up of sea moss, “china man hats” (chiton), seaweed, muscles, barnacles, sea grass and sea stars. As the late sunrays penetrated the greenish, gray waters it made me want to dive in and commune with the creatures of the sea. Sadly but gladly I am not so close a part of their ecological system as that.