pastelbord
This piece is rather quiet, even though it features a loud subject - the Ornate Wrasse, Thalassoma pavo. I am particularly pleased with the background, which is in keeping with my overall style but also references the refraction patterns of the ocean. I also think this painting shows that though the Ornate Wrasse is brightly colored, it can blend in surprisingly well.
It is acrylic on pastelbord, 9x12", and I'm still wrestling with the title.
Here's the first finished piece of artwork from my residency! It features two Canary damselfish, Similiparma lurida and/or Abudefduf luridus. There are a lot of this species in the Zoco Negro where I went snorkeling and had my scuba diving "baptism." The males are territorial, and this species is occasionally called sergeant major (though the name more commonly applies to a different damselfish species). I've decided to name this painting Reconnaissance. It is acrylic on pastelbord, 11x14", and looks even nicer in person because the water and the eyes of the fish have iridescent silver and gold paint on them, respectively, and so they shine intensely depending on viewer angle and interior light levels.
This is acrylic on pastelbord which is a clay ground textured with marble dust granules. Due to the high heat here, most of the time the snails spend sealed inside their shells to conserve moisture, but on the summer solstice the rain brought several of them out and one explored my left thumb for quite some time.
Titling this one Balancing Act.