another starry picture

....here's Leo, and a fireball, and the Alton Barnes white horse as seen from the canal near Honeystreet. Just a picture I wanted to do; and the generator charged up the boat batteries while I had the big computer running so that I could do the digital processing....

Been v busy sending off Christmas orders lately. I did a small print run of cards for my own use, like this- life on board nb Eve...

...I scanned it before I coloured it; was thinking I might do a colouring book, as they seem quite popular at the mo. If that is your thing, feel free to download the pic and have a go!

Flying Fish

 

Sometimes, it's nice to do something a bit different, and paint a picture from your imagination. I did this picture last week; I saw flying fish and phosphorescence in the Indian Ocean ten years ago, and I used to have a little boat rather like this one, and still have the storm lantern. But that's as far as actual events go. That's the House Teenager there at the tiller....

There's a print of it over on Etsy.

Here's the first flying fish I ever saw; it had landed on deck during the night. It wasn't long after that I saw groups of them, flying out of the way of the boat as we zoomed along; their wings stretched out tight and shiny in the sunlight.

..and this is a drawing of plankton flashing as we zoomed by; I think this is called bioluminescence, and I don't know enough about it to know if it's a different thing from phosphorescence.... it was like silent fireworks, exploding underwater. And, like so much else far out in the ocean, it was something rich and strange.