Jupiter's Red Lady

by AnnaJo Vahle

Buy the Original Painting

Price

Not Specified

Dimensions

40.000 x 30.000 x 1.000 inches

Title

Jupiter's Red Lady

Artist

AnnaJo Vahle

Medium

Painting - Acrylic And Additives On Canvas

Description

We were driving up the East Coast of Florida, we saw the sweeping tower of red brick in the Jupiter Inlet. As an artist and photographer, I couldn't resist the opportunity to check it out a little closer. We pulled over and drove around looking for a good angle. I was delighted to see a bunch of crab traps drying out in the sun. They were next to a seafood restaurant on a concrete wharf. Some small boats were moored along a wooden pier in the middle ground. Various birds swam and/or flew nearby. I included a beautiful osprey flying overhead with a freshly caught fish in it's talons.

The scene was so relaxing and therapeutic. I used bright colors of acrylic paint on a 30” by 40” canvas. I mostly painted with brushes but occasionally used a bit of knife-work. I did change many details and exaggerated the colors. I had fun playing with various textures. I used some additive/mediums to aid in the textures. Grass and seaweed clung to the sides of the rough uneven crab traps. None of them seemed to be the same. I took advantage of this and took some liberty in placing them and designing them. They are not exact but give the general idea. Thick ropes tied together some of them. I wasn't exactly sure about some of the boat details and just indicated them fairly loosely sorta showing what I saw. I liked the reflections in the water and on the boats.

Although, it doesn't stand on a rocky cliff by the edge of the sea, like the northern ladies of the coast, the Jupiter Lighthouse does stand on a natural hill of shell and marine sand about 41k feet. Submerged reefs and sandbars caused innumerable ship-wrecks over the years. Congress finally appropriated approximately $35,000 in 1853 to erect “a first-order lighthouse.” It marks the reef lying off the Jupiter Inlet and acts as an aide to navigation.

Mariners can locater their position at sea by identifying a flash pattern that is unique to each lighthouse. The light is visible from 18 to 25 miles at sea. “There is no structure as altruistic as a lighthouse. Its only purpose is to serve humanity,” George Bernard Shaw. There is something romantic about lighthouses and lighthouse keepers. Perhaps it's the vision of foggy rainy nights with the sound of fog horns in the darkness. Man and his beacon in isolation facing the devouring action of the sea to perform their duties. The Jupiter Lighthouse stands bright red against a cloudy blue sky.

Uploaded

March 28th, 2018

Colors

Embed

Share

Tags