Friday, August 13, 2010

From The Vault - Dolphin Painting 1995

Here is another airbrushed painting I found in an old portfolio book that dates back to sometime in 1995.

It was my first attempt at painting a dolphin.

At the time I was still airbrushing heavily and experimenting with more monochromatic paintings using dark shading, a monochromatic color on top, and then airbrushing white highlights on top of it. A dolphin seemed the perfect subject to use for this style of painting.

I was looking at a lot of Wyland's art work during this period. He is an amazing artist who does paintings and murals of all sorts of sea life. A girl I was seeing at the time was really into his work and loved dolphins.

So, of course, to impress her, I painted this dolphin.

What's funny is that this piece turned out to be pretty much the study for another dolphin piece I painted five years later. This time, instead of on illustration board, I painted a dolphin on a table. Maybe I'll pull some of those photos out for next weeks "From The Vault."

I'm sure I dedicated that piece to her too.

I wonder where both of these pieces are now...

3 comments:

Jeff Lafferty said...

Yeah, I wonder where those tables ended up?
Jeff

rob! said...

I remember this one! Great design.

During our first or second trip to the SDCC, didn't we visit the museum of some painter that did a lot of aquatic art? This piece reminds me of that guy's stuff. Was it Wyland?

Sean Tiffany said...

Hey Robbo, I totally forgot about that. Yes, we did go see one of Wyland's galleries in San Diego. I also saw one of his galleries in Hawaii. That guy had the right idea when he started doing art. Galleries in Hawaii and San Diego? Sign me up!

And Jeff, next week when I find the photos of us painting those tables, I'll relate the story and let you know the last time I saw them. And, it wasn't in a restaurant.