*The plight of the whales of the world are a cause near and dear to my heart. The many species along the eastern seaboard and particularly the North Atlantic Right Whale have a special place for me, as I've been following them from some of their feeding grounds, in Cape Cod, Massachusetts to their calving grounds around the St, Augustine, Florida, for nearly a decade now. If you've followed me for a while you know my meaning. After 2 recent documentary watches 'Entangled' and 'The Loneliest Whale', both excellent, I've decided to donate the total proceeds from the sale of this painting to Center of Coastal Studies Provincetown, as I've seen them in action numerous times and have even participated in an entangled whale rescue. Message me for further info on how to purchase this painting and help to 'Save the Whale', from extinction.
There are only about 400 or so North Atlantic Right Whales surviving along eastern seaboard of North America, their primary resident. Beyond the obvious of the previous 3 centuries Whaling Industry, we have known for quite some time the multiple factors infringing on their ability to thrive. It appears that the primary ones are, entanglement, ship strikes, & sonar disrupting their communications. The Fisheries have, for the most part been trying to cooperate as have the shipping lanes been modified to avoid them when we know when and where they are. Climate change has posed yet another challenge as the areas that we have been trying to protect are not always the places they are going now. With climate change has brought more random chaos and a change in where the abundance of food may or may not be. It seems there is a partial and highly effective solution. The majority of the whale deaths are due to entanglement. A team has created an experimental rope less traps, that if supplied to the fisheries could in fact help the fisheries as well as save the whale. Funding is needed to continue the development and distribute the new traps to the fisheries, free of charge contingent on the agreement of eliminating all roped cages.
For this piece I utilized a photo from one of the documentaries as my reference for the direct approach of painting and its expression. A relatively simple painting and yet beyond the image of the whale, the richness of the colors was extremely important to me in creating the depth of field. The colors used were bleached & unbleached Titanium white, 6 different blues, mineral violet, magenta, Indian yellow, raw sienna & yellow ochre. As I really enjoy varied textures, my primary tools are brushes, palette knives, sculpting tools & tissues. This assisted in creating the illusion of the whale being suspended in the water, paint before the scale of the diver.
Your questions & comments, as always are welcome.,
Richard
’Save the Whale’ 36”x18” oil
