The 2017 SeaChange Summer Party took place on July 15, 2017 in Laguna Beach, CA. It was the 10 year anniversary of the SeaChange Summer Party. The beautiful reception was held at Villa di Sogni in Laguna Beach, and the venue fittingly provided stunning views of the Pacific Ocean. Special guests included actor and OCEANA Board Member Sam Waterston, and actress and animal welfare advocate Lily Tomlin. Actor, ocean advocate and Oceana spokesman Ted Danson acted as Master of Ceremonies. The night held many honors for me. In addition to having my work "The Free Swimmers" included in the luxury auction, "Turtle's Voyages" was used for all the signage including the auction banner, program book, and invitations. My painting "Marine Life" was used as the background to introduce the speakers.
"Turtle's Voyages" used in event fliers, invitations, and program book
"Marine Life" was used in the stage background introducing the speakers
It's always nice to meet and connect with fellow artists and that night I met the JoJo Bros, a brother artist duo from Orange County, and Georgeana Ireland, a paint and mixed media artist. Both artists also had work that was part of the luxury auction. The event also provided networking opportunities. Soon I will be signing on to sell originals through Pacific Sculpture Gallery in Newport Beach and possibly another gallery in Hawaii.
SeaChange auction floor
The SeaChange Summer Party wasn’t just about art. Serious issues were discussed too. One of the speakers shared a tragic and moving story of a local well-known humpback whale named Scarlet that recently died off of Newport Beach. It is speculated that she died from lingering exhaustion from her brush with fishing lines. One of Oceana's main fights is to stop the usage of trawl fishing nets. Trawling is typically used to catch fish or shrimp, but catching unwanted species is a problem for trawlers because any species that is not small enough to pass through the net's mesh openings gets trapped and killed, like turtles and whales.
SeaChange venue Villa di Sogni in Laguna Beach, CA
Now back to the studio… I am working on some new paintings. This one is the beginning of what is going to be a fish painting. I intend to have the fishes hiding in rocks and caves and I may even paint the Garibaldi fish again. The Garibaldi is the official marine state fish of California and is protected in Californian coastal waters.
New painting in progress. I intend to paint the Garibaldi fish hiding in the rocks and caves underwater.
The next two paintings here are two panels. They were poured from the same mix of epoxy resin and wet pigment colors. The pair will complement each other and could be placed side by side. The patterns remind me of waves crashing into tide pool rocks. I intend to make them into tide pool paintings and will be adding sea urchins, star fish, crabs, barnacles. If you look closely at these photos, you will see bubbles and patterns. While some artists may try to get rid of these or paint over them, I like to preserve them and paint the subject matter around them. They will end up looking like beautiful rock formations that you see in a tide pool.
New tide pool themed painting. There are two panels with this similar background poured from the same mix of resin and mix of pigment colors.
Closeup of new painting in progress. The beautiful bubbles and patterns from the resin will be left unchanged. As I paint around them, they will resemble rocks and rock formations you see in a tide pool.
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