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

Advertisement

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

Person of the Pond

Person of the Pond (approx. 5″ x 5″ watercolour on paper)

Another watercolour from my sketch book. Maybe I dreamt this – not sure! It just came into my head and I had to get it onto paper. (The signature was added after as a digital stamp.)

Tom came up with a delightful poem for this – I took the title of the piece from the poem.

The Lady of the Lake gets all the press
while no one minds the Person of the Pond
floating here without the dreadful stress
of handing swords to kings. The lily fronds
are all I need to keep me company
whilst contemplating which and wherefore. Why
do humans march with such cacophony
through their lives when someday they must die?
A life of quiet in my pond is all
I’ve ever wished for, while these errant kings
go to the lake for swords: their duty calls
them to the field to fight for lower things
while I am left alone in peaceful deeps
enjoying life in silent, secret keeps.

image (c) 2020 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 2020 TJ Radcliffe

underwater lily pads and haiku…

surreal umbrellas

This is the third and last in the series of paintings I started during a course last fall with Melanie Matthews and finished recently. Once again I have struggled with taking a reasonable photograph of the piece. This one has a fair amount of texture making it especially difficult. There are also some reflective metallics – so it changes a lot depending on the light and angle.
The under water feeling I was trying to create was wonderfully captured by Tom’s haiku.

surreal umbrellas
shelter depths from raining light
currents blowing wind

(c) 2013 TJ Radcliffe

underwater detail

painting mixed media on board 12″x12″ (cc) 2013 Hilary Farmer

Here’s a fun  art blog and check out this lovely watercolour with a wonderful piece of fortune cookie advice – and it doesn’t just work for artists!

o fishy fish…

just swimmin' around

A recent computer drawing I did trying to achieve a more painterly effect. For some reason I really enjoy creating underwater images even though I don’t scuba dive etc. I have snorkelled (once) and found it fascinating. Perhaps it is time to try that again!

UPDATE: New sonnet from Tom for the fish to swim by…

The blue-green waters fade away to black
Sun’s light above, eternal dark below
The tide in flood will soon be running slack
Until the ebb responds to “to” with “fro”.
Between the light and dark, the flood and ebb
Long kelpen fronds embrace the living sea
Deep in their midst the fishes lurk, the web
of Ocean catches them and sets them free.
They serve no master, make no war or cause
Just swim along through Ocean’s lighted pasture
Tigers of the sea bereft of claws
Riding tides twixt triumph and disaster.
Behold the fish in all its fishy ways
Living life in peaceful sunlit days.

Copyright (C) 2011 TJ Radcliffe

image (cc) 2011 Hilary Farmer

a seal…

he's looking right at me!

Continuing with the underwater theme from the last couple of images… and hoping that Tom will be inspired to write another poem to go with this inquisitive seal!

UPDATE: And here is a poem – very fast! and… well see below!

Those silent eyes have seen the light
that filters down below
into darkness, falling, bright,
fading to a glow.

They’ve looked upon the truth of worlds,
the profit and the loss,
while the Ocean’s vortex swirls
all countless of the cost.

They’ve seen the lilies of the deep
clothed in the finest rags
and pierced the depths where all that creeps
beneath the pressure sags.

Then to the sunlight and the air
they’ve joyously returned
like Orpheus upon the stair,
no Eurydice to spurn.

Those eyes have seen the dark abyss
and stared into the night:
greeted it with fishy kiss
and flipper flapping flight

They’ve seen the mystery and the fun
of diving deep and dark
but always there awaits the sun
and pups’ inquiring bark.

Copyright (C) 2010 Tom Radcliffe

image (cc) 2010 Hilary Farmer