Seascape Artist

For many artists who paint seascapes or lake-scapes, they get bored with them because they feel as if they are painting the very same painting over & over a gazillion times. Nature has a way of giving an artist new direction and viewpoint of water painting … if you are open to what is around you and let the first impression guide you towards a new painting. We have been having a lot of rain this last … well it seems like forever … but actually maybe a month or so I guess … maybe more or maybe less time … the important part is that there has been a lot of rain and it has been raining nearly every day – it may have skipped a day or so but not many at all recently. The Houston area being low-lying, it doesn’t run off all that quickly even though there are lots of bayous all over the place – we have ditches full of water and there are mini-lakes in empty fields where there wasn’t during the dry / drier season.

Westheimer Parkway in particular floods or nearly floods if there is a heavy rain – it hasn’t been completely over the road any time I’ve been down it but it has been quite close on both sides – one nite I had to turn around and go back – I think there was water on the road but I never got close enough to it in the traffic to really find out – part of the area on both sides of it is VERY low ground. I hadn’t driven down there for a couple weeks or more – I was nearly afraid to do so for fear it was completely under water with all the rain we’ve been having.

I drove down it this week – it is like driving through the middle of a lake – the water is about two feet away from the road on both sides though nearly level with the road – when I was a kid, I was amazed at the Red Sea parting in The Ten Commandments movie. I got the same feeling driving on the road in what appeared to be a lake! When it is a heavy rain that doesn’t last all that long and it brings up the water level – it usually goes down rather quickly – this is not going down – it does not appear to be draining at all or if it is, then the rain every day is keeping it fairly stable level of water – I am thinking this week-end on Sunday would be a good day to drive down it to see and maybe try to get some pictures if it is still like a lake with a road running through it.

Does this draw a picture in your mind that you could translate to canvas? Had you ever considered what it would look like, let alone feel like to walk or drive through a lake? I’m trying to figure out how I can put the water up on both sides of the road like walls without banks – a parting of the Red Sea effect – I think it would be fascinating to paint water from that perspective – in it without being in it … surrounded but not immersed – religious painting enthusiasts in particular … have you ever painted the Parting of the Red Sea?

Perhaps from a snail’s perspective or as a rock on the bottom of the Sea … or maybe a bird’s eye view from above of the tiny little people surrounded by the huge walls of water being held back from crushing the tiny little speck people trudging through the Red Sea fearing it will come crashing down onto them any second …. or giants who are still dwarfed by the water walls of the parted Sea.

Would you have enough faith to walk through the Red Sea with it parted? I’m not sure I would – it sounds quite scary and just thinking of those enormous walls of water towering miles above and over me with many miles to walk through it ahead of me and the water being held back by faith alone … maybe that is why caves give me claustrophobia … maybe I am afraid the walls are held back by faith alone and that my faith would not be enough to keep the rocks from tumbling down upon me.

Let nature inspire you with odd random occurances – all you have to do is be open to seeing them and noticing them – when I drove down the road – I was wanting to take a shortcut that would get me to my daughter’s house faster – I was hoping it was not closed and that I would not have to turn around and backtrack which would take me more time – what I got was an inspirational reminder of an event that I’ve never even considered painting until now. Nature will give you ideas of what to do with weather, sky, rocks, water, land and so much more – let it brighten your world and broaden your horizons by letting Nature be why you stop along the road to smell the flowers and watch the sun rise or sun set.

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