Kelp Forest

Kelp Forest (30″ x 40″ oil on canvas)

I so enjoyed creating my recent small kelp painting that I really wanted to do a large scale piece. This allowed me to look at some elements of the scene in a lot more detail such as the foreground sea anemones that look so much like flowers. Working at a larger scale also gives much more scope for large brush strokes and creating an enveloping atmosphere. I love the seal that gazes outward, calmly curious about us, the viewer.

Here are a few details to give a better sense of the texture and brushwork.

Lower right – sea anemones

Lower left – kelp and fishies

Top – light filters down

Right side – seal gazes outward

(C) 2023 Hilary Farmer

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Kelp

“Kelp” (8″ x 10″ oil on panel)

I have been drawn to paint underwater scenes lately. Too bad I couldn’t paint plein air down there! Anyway, this is a study for a larger piece that I am now working on. I’ve also been creating work for a multi-artist show of small works and a commission too so definitely busy.

Hope the early days of the New Year are keeping you inspired!

(C) 2023 Hilary Farmer

A Fishes’ Tao…

A Fishes’ Tao

Well, this is the next in the series of my …animandalas. The form is still inspired by mandalas but has evolved to the point where I felt it wanted its own name. 😉 This time images of fish were swimming around my brain and starting from the yin-yang fish at the centre, through the kelp forest out to the flying fish at the edge, so much fun to create!

a quadrant – closeup view

By special request, a close-up to show the level of detail.

UPDATE: Poem from Tom! Thanks and yay!

deep within blue ocean’s silent whirl
pools of darkness tidal currents curl
soft black ribbons round unspoken fish
entwined in mind where emptiness meets wish
upon the twinkle in a minow’s eye
while through kelp the seried ranks swim by
and large above the flying fishes leap
undreaming through the air while fast asleep
aware of only surfaces and shiny
scales that sing the music of the world
across tsunami waves that guard the briny
deep within blue ocean’s silent swirl

poem (c) 2016 Tom Radcliffe

image (c) 2016 Hilary Farmer

kelp dreams…

kelp forest... well, glade

More water and creatures… hope you like!

UPDATE: From Tom in the comments a lovely poetic evocation of exactly the feeling I was trying to achieve with the image…

Follow down to twilight dusk
where the fish and kelp-crabs dwell
past the shipwreck’s empty husk
deep beneath the surface swell

Out of airy sunlit waters
down to where the holdfasts cling
where abyssal secret creatures
listen as the mermaids sing

Here beneath the floating fronds
live the denizens of yore
letting slip the surly bonds
protected from the tidal bore

Tangled in the kelpen strands
catching plankton from the flow
that rises up from secret lands
deeper darkness down below

Caught between the day and night
living balanced on the tide
neither of the dark nor light
here they live and here they hide

From the pirate gulls above
from the Krakens of the deep
safe in Ocean’s boundless love
safe within this cloistered keep

Copyright (C) 2010 Tom Radcliffe

image (cc) 2010 Hilary Farmer