Inevitability (or the Sea Serpent)
It was my nephew who asked me to paint a dragon. And I kept dreaming of huge storms caused by unseen monsters of the deep. They were not frightening dreams, but rather a recognition that life can move with an inevitable force not necessarily of one's own making (a car accident, a death of a loved one, someones-or-some-corporations-bottom-line). I have always been drawn to nature and the awe-inspiring force of water, and deep water themes often show up when I am at a point of a major life transition.
The Sea Serpent was inspired by such a transition, finding myself breathlessly watching the storms rolling into the cliffs of Malta, and they made me think of The Great Wave of Kanazawa. It is the first time I used a palette knife on a canvas, scraping each Serpent scale with 3-5 different colors to create an iridescent 'wet' look; drawing the knife through multiple shades of rock to give it a cliff face. It is also the first time I used 'running brick layers' over the bulk of canvas to draw the eye to curvature. I recognize this as a seminal work that has already moved my art to a new level.
The Sea Serpent was inspired by such a transition, finding myself breathlessly watching the storms rolling into the cliffs of Malta, and they made me think of The Great Wave of Kanazawa. It is the first time I used a palette knife on a canvas, scraping each Serpent scale with 3-5 different colors to create an iridescent 'wet' look; drawing the knife through multiple shades of rock to give it a cliff face. It is also the first time I used 'running brick layers' over the bulk of canvas to draw the eye to curvature. I recognize this as a seminal work that has already moved my art to a new level.
