Painting the wrecks I love to dive
As I get ready to put the protective varnish layers on a recent wreck painting, I can't help but reflect on how much I truly love diving. It inspires my art. Here, diving the in the Great Lakes, I love the challenge of the cold water, extra equipment and exposure wear and the physical and mental prep to be able to dive these haunting wrecks. I ordinarily paint only what I myself have experienced - especially the wrecks. I can recall each one clearly and recall certain parts of the dive that made an impression on me.
In this commissioned painting of the Vickery, two divers have dropped down out of the wicked current of the St. Lawrence River into the cargo hold. You can swim much more easily from the bow to the stern in the length of the cargo hold. On a nice sunny day, you can enjoy the light penetrating into the holds through the spots where the decking have fallen away.
There is so much history in our own backyard especially as the Great Lakes served as the shipping channels to and from the St. Lawrence River and beyond to the Atlantic Ocean. And I never would have known much of this history without diving!