Sea Serpent

I saw this weathervane for the first time in 1973 at an antique show in Winston-Salem. Just at the beginning of my art career, I didn’t have the money to buy it, but the dealer was kind enough to let me photograph it. The photos, like countless others, went into a file somewhere in my studio, and I forgot about them until recently when I started doing a few paintings of classic old weather vanes. I saw a couple of similar sea monsters in a folk art book, and I remembered that I had photos somewhere of a really great one. I dug around for several hours and found it in a box labeled “possible subjects.” I guess I was somewhat organized in 1973.

The photos, which were shot with an old Instamatic, were not very good but there was enough there to work from, and again I used a lot of artistic license when I started to sketch it. Living here on the coast I see marshes, tidal creeks and waterways on a daily basis, so I decided to use this indigenous landscape as a background for the painting. The rust and peeling gilt are pretty much the way you expect it to be after years of exposure to our coastal climate.  The red glass eye was an idea that worked.

Original
$2200
SOLD

Giclée print on canvas
Edition of 300 S/N
Image: 11″ x 14″
$150