World Inspired Landscapes: Marshall Islands

 

Continuing with the virtual tour of the world, part one was completed, and part two is underway, we reach deep into the Pacific Ocean and arrive at Marshall Islands. Marshall Islands is a volcanic archipelago consisting of coral atolls and five main islands. An atoll is a volcanic remnant that appears as a ring in the ocean, the caldera full of water becomes a lagoon full of coral and sea life. Indigenous people lived there as early as 1000 BC or earlier which is a testament to the seafaring abilities of ancient people of the region. Due to the remoteness, the harsh waters, and the hostile people who lived there, Marshall Islands resisted any significant colonization until the Germans, Japanese and then Americans occupied parts of it for shipping and military purposes. Unfortunately the Americans decided to test almost seventy nuclear bombs on the atolls, especially the Bikini atoll (namesake of the bikini bathing suit) where they detonated all manner of nukes including one that went out of control and spewed radioactive waste on everything including the military personnel and the locals who had been moved to an island on the other side of the country. To this day Bikini atoll has a massive crater in it from a nuke, like a bite out of a slice of bread that filled in with water afterwards. 

For the painting, I had been wanting to do a black and white painting for a while, and this seemed to be the right moment. Composing a night scene, I left the full moon hanging at the top, with an inky black sky in bone black (PBk9). Bone black is a warmish, granular black paint that settles in with a decent textural effect. The atoll and palm trees were bone black with additional dark red (PR179), dark green (PBk31) and dark blue (PB60). I wasn't sure of the over painting would be darker than the background, but luckily it dried to the correct value that I was looking for. The moon reflections on the water are the paper showing through. The painting turned out to be a lot more powerful than I anticipated, it has a sombre appearance, but also carries a kind of desolate loneliness of the middle of the Pacific on an abandoned atoll.

World Inspired Landscapes: Marshall Islands, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, March 2024