Here are two paintings I’ve done for my sister’s upcoming birthday. She and her family live in Seattle and she wanted a couple of prints for her bathroom. She was looking through all my fish prints and trying to decide what to use. The thought came to me to do a new painting for her with sea life from the Pacific Northwest. Her shower curtain had oranges and blues and tans so I worked with those colors.
Years ago we lived in Oakland California where I worked as an outdoor program specialist for the San Francisco Bay Girl Scouts. I drove a van throughout the bay area leading special programs for girl scout troops. Every so often I would meet a troop out on the coast where we would explore the tide pools. The Northwest coast can be pretty gray, chilly and overcast; but the tide pools are just bursting with color of the various sea creatures. The stark contrast made it exciting, like finding a treasure. I loved teaching about how the sea creatures had adapted to their stark environment, opening and closing with the tide changes.
It was a fun and challenging painting the tide pools, and it helped that I did them both at the same time. The paintings brought back happy memories that I had not thought about in years. I feel they turned out pretty well and hope my sister will like them and that they will work in her space.
Heni's Happy Paintings 