Painting #21

We belong to the sea
Oil on canvas paper
50x65cm

I have always wanted to paint the most intelligent animals and besides that I felt like I needed a little change from painting tigers and leopards. So here it is! My first dolphins painting

In the past I have seen many articles and videos about dolphins. There was one video where one dolphin was holding a brush with his mouth, He made different lines and curves and created his own painting. I think its awesome, isn't it? I am so impressed.

Sadly I haven't swum with them yet. Actually I can't swim. So I guess now I have something which motivates me to learn.

Painting the underwater turned out to be quite complicated. I wanted it to look like the light is shining down on the dolphins. At first I thought that I would paint only dolphins but then I thought that they would get bored and decided to paint some little fish to give them some company.

First of all I painted the water. It took me a while because I had to use darker blues and lighter blues to get the wanted effect.When that was done, I started painting the dolphins and after that I started to paint all the underwater plants and fish. I never would have guessed that painting the plants and fish could take so long time.

This is also probably because I paint in oils and this requires a lot of drying time. 

The most rewarding part of the painting process was painting the dolphins. While I was painting the dolphins I decided to get myself in the right mood and listened to some songs which are about the sea and I even listened Dolphins relaxation music. It was really relaxing! 

And here is a link to this relaxation music:

And some work in progress shots:

Linking up to: Serenity now