World Inspired Landscapes: Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a remote group of islands north east of Australia in the Pacific Ocean. It was inhabited as far back as 30,000 BC, and its indigenous people remained mostly unaffected by colonialism due to its remoteness and harsh environments. Germans who tried to set up towns failed because the locals would not help them survive, and the British set up a protectorate arrangement. The country saw fierce fighting in World War II between Americans and Japanese, then eventually found independence followed by a lengthy civil war. In the background, the indigenous people were fighting to save their environment. Post war, the logging industry started to remove trees, in fact, Solomon Islands has one of the highest covergae with forest of all the countries (Suriname is number one with the most forest coverage). Environmentalism seems to have won, and now they are even restoring the underwater plants and creating aquatic agriculture to harvest sea weed. In the painting, you see a bed of fresh sea grass under the sunlit sea. Beams of light penetrate the gloom creating a surrealistic underwater scene.

The water was a similar effect as the Cyprus painting, but with more embellishment on the sun beams and sea floor. There were six steps. First, was the sun effect, similar to what I do on location its a ring of orange-yellow surrounded by turquoise then blue, careful to leave the jagged edge for the tops of the sea grass. Second, the sun beams were lifted with a brush loaded with dilute orange-yellow and brush drag. Third, the texturing on the surface refraction was added. Fourth, the sea grass and base sea floor was filled in. Fifth, texturing on the sea floor. Sixth, dark shadow patches were added to the grass. I planned out these steps in advance, then went through the numbers. Even so it was tough to pull off, its one of the more technical scenes in the series.

World Inspired Landscapes: Solomon Islands, 6.5 x 10" cold press, April 2025