Call me Picasso

Below: A small group of Transient whales. These animals are what I've been seeing lately. I'm anxiously awaiting the return of J-Pod, my favorite group of whales.

Well hello again family. This week has been pretty hectic at work. I’ve had tours every day and I’m learning something new with each trip. Unfortunately J Pod, one of the resident groups of orca, hasn’t been in the area since early April. However, the transients have been saving me lately. We saw T-14, who we call “Pender,” and his friends hunting along the Canadian coast Saturday and Sunday afternoons. They aren’t near as playful as the resident groups, but they are just as beautiful and fascinating. This weekend was sunny, but that didn’t last long because it rained pretty well yesterday.

I’ve also spent more time learning how to paint. Although I’m not too sure how to make “happy trees” and especially “happy waves,” I’m working on it. I painted four more pieces since the last time I wrote… it gets a bit boring when my roomie is on the mainland so I spend lots of time painting. The new pieces are called: Kiss My Fluke, Part of Your World, Paint Me Free, and To Katherine by Moonlight.

Kiss My Fluke is the one of the whale partially submerged slapping its tail above the water. (A whale’s tail is called a fluke… which explains the title.) I gave this one to Bill and Colleen, my bosses. I chose to give them this one because the title’s humor is right up their alley. Part of Your World is the one of the whale jumping to the left corner of the canvas. I think I’m going to keep this one because the title comes from one of my favorite movies, The Little Mermaid. Paint Me Free was specifically done for Grandma and Grandpa. The whale in the painting has three spots on its “chin” just like Keiko from Free Willy. Grandma and Grandpa took me to the Oregon Coast Aquarium when I was nine to see Keiko and its one of my fondest memories. I wanted to paint him free, although he didn’t live long in the wild; he still lives in my memory as free as a bird. To Katherine by Moonlight was my first freehand attempt. I think it turned out ok, given the way I painted it. (This is the one with the whales and the tree in the foreground.) I named it this because it was for my landlord. Rob and his wife Katherine own our cottage and live right next door to us. Sadly, Katherine has cancer and isn’t able to get out too often because she’s so sick. I wanted to paint the whales coming to visit her in hopes of lifting their spirits a little bit. I’m really not an artist, but it’s a nice hobby and maybe one day I’ll be able to paint something more difficult than a black and white whale. LOL! I sent my mom a painting for Mother’s Day yesterday. She wanted the one called Horsin’ Around that I painted last week. I even sent a painting to Jo this morning. It’s one of my first paintings called Jump 4 Joy. That one is a favorite of mine and I’m hoping it will help cheer Jo up since she hasn’t been feeling well lately. If anybody would like a painting just shoot me a message and let me know. I plan on keeping Part of Your World, Ruffles’ Journey Home, and J-Pod’s Frolicking Grounds (the one with the mountains in the background). The local post office requested a painting when I sent mom and grandma’s out yesterday. They want to put one up on their wall in the office, so I’m going to work on one for them as well. Just let me know if you want one what you’re looking for and I’ll do my best under the following conditions: only orcas, not too much detail, and I can’t redo one I’ve already done. This isn’t because I really want them to be one-of-a-kind, but because I don’t think I could recreate one. So… if you get a painting it will be one-of-a-kind by default.

I miss you guys, but I’m actually really happy here. Everyone is nice and the whales are great. Hope everyone’s having a great week and I look forward to hearing from you all.

P.S. The flash makes some of the paint look like it is see-through. The white spots are actually where the paint is the thickest and the flash just picks up the shine and makes it seem white. In other words, the paintings look better in person. (There, now you can’t criticize them anymore. Hahaha.)

Above: The majority of my paintings on display on our kitchen table... I hope I'm improving.