The River Diver

I started to work on The River Diver back in May. I have always loved otters, in all their shapes and sizes. I'm actually shocked I have not painted one sooner. I used to draw them all the time in high school, and even did a graphic media project with a sea otter. We created logos. If anyone is familiar with logo design, you know that you draw about a million thumb nails and sketches before you start getting close to the shapes you want to represent the animal and the product they represent in the logo. If I find photos of old drawings and files of the media project I will share them. Currently most of my apartment is packed up in boxes. 

This was my first time painting a river otter. I had a lot of fun with this. Bright blues creating their own motions while reacting the the otter's dive. The colors twist like the otter as he swims below. He is many hues: reds, browns, purples, and cream. The River Diver came purely out of my imagination. I coudln't tell you when his image came to my mind. Otters are always there. 

The only time I had to use a photograph reference was for his ears. Did you know otters can close their ears and nostrils when under water? They can stay under water for 8 minutes and dive up to 60 feet under the surface. 

 

Some details:

Those whiskers. Gosh of those these animals. 

Here you can really see the amount of blending and choice of colors. 

I didn't blend too much because I wanted shapes of this diver to stand out. 

The overall effect is smooth in texture and strong in lines and colors. 

A fun camera angle shot just because. 

Now that I am in the process of moving, the paints have been put away. The River Diver will get bubble wrapped like the others and await their move into their new home. Speaking of said home...we got a house! FINALLY! 

Guess what is in this house? Space for a bigger and brighter (more natural light) art studio.

 I can't wait to get that set up and expand my efforts into illustration. 

My focus for the next three weeks, however, is to prepare for moving while doing prep work for this year's Sweet Chalk Festival in Lockport, NY. I will be returning this year as a featured artist. I decided on my piece and will be doing pre-work: grids, initial drawing, and real size stencil. I will share the progress through more blog posts soon.

Life is so busy, but awesomely so. Diving in!