Sea Spirit Encounter

Titled "Sea Spirit Encounter", this is a pastel on LuxArchival paper, 11" H x 7" wide unframed, using soft pastels and alcohol wash. Part of a collection of Surrealist/Expressionist images dealing with themes of folklore, spirituality, and mental health issues.

I start with laying down a few colors, brush on some rubbing alcohol and see what happens. Then semi-intuitively I add colors and see what shapes develop such as facial features or nature/spiritual references and simply go from there. It really is fun though sometimes dark themes come through such as this one. I felt the theme of a recent death in the ocean come through and its connection to all who perished there throughout history.