Green Turtle On Ribbon Reef
Artists Palette|No 167
This oil painter adopted the marine environment as a subject because of its strangeness, its atmospheric qualities, its abundance of weird and wonderful wildlife, and its need for understanding.
Dailan Pugh
Green Turtle On Ribbon Reef

My approach to artworks is primarily influenced by both the subject matter and the medium I am using. Nothing can be truer than the saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’ when it is applied to our marine environment. While we are drawn to its shores and frolic in its waves, mostly we only see the sky reflected on its surface and close our eyes tight when we go under. This blindness has engendered an appalling ignorance and lack of concern for the waters that constitute most of Planet Earth. I hope that my paintings will help others to open their eyes and look beneath the waves … and then maybe to think more about what we put in our marine environment; what we take from it and what we do for it.

I have spent considerable time snorkelling and taking my own photographs. The approachability of fish makes this process relatively easy. I utilise a variety of images to compose my paintings. I may sometimes resort to reference books to work out details. Species used for this painting are Green Turtle, Striped Triggerfish, Saddled Butterflyfish, Rainford’s Butterflyfish, Fire Dartfish, Yellowtail Fangblenny, Red-ribbon Wrasse, Six-bar Wrasse, Dick’s Damsel, Freckled Hawkfish, Blue-green Puller, Golden Damsel and Tail-fin Batfish.

This story is from the No 167 edition of Artists Palette.

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This story is from the No 167 edition of Artists Palette.

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