2021 has started more with a whimper than a bang. I’ve been laid low and in some considerable pain. I am thankful for antibiotics which are taking the edge off the pain and (I hope) turning the curve on the infection. But it’s thrown a spanner into the works in terms of making progress with painting. Finally this week I’ve had enough energy to go up to the studio to put the finishing touches on my newest painting “The Kelpies”.
If you’ve seen any of my recent polar bear paintings you’ll know that I’ve been loving painting light filtering through underwater. I wanted to try to capture it through a seakelp forest.
I remember standing mesmerised and swaying whilst watching seakelp drift back and forth in @2oceansaquarium in Capetown years ago – I’ve been a fan ever since and love how it catches days of light with such a range of colour tones from dark brown to ochre to acid greens.
Separately I’ve been reading about #celtic #kelpies – proper horror stories – beautiful but deadly #shapeshifters that usually take the form of horses – sometimes beautiful women – to lure you into the deep. This is absolutely the dark side of celtic mythology and truly haunting. You can read more about the tales here
https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Kelpie/
I am completely in awe of Andy Scott’s sculpture of the kelpies at #falkirk – it’s amazing
For this painting I wanted to try to convey something more ethereal, but still dark and threatening, to combine with the seakelp.
The end result is a very different painting to my usual style, leaving behind the purely literal (for this one anyway) to embrace magical realism. I hope you like it.
Julie Wilson Art 