(original post from Instagram 11/14/18) In 2017, my husband & I spent 10 days in Croatia to celebrate my 40th birthday. It was probably my favorite vacation EVER, I think mostly because of the variety of experiences that Croatia provided between the rich history, urban cities, culture, sleepy coastal towns, & the breathtaking national parks. But there was one day in particular when we were staying in Split, when we chartered a boat for a full day, 5 island excursion on the Adriatic Sea. I should pause here, because this in itself was a miracle given my husband’s fear of sharks (one swam past him when he was a child) & he hardly braves water that’s past his knees... The itinerary was to take a 90 min boat ride, stopping first at the naturally glowing Blue Cave (which illuminates at a certain time of day when the sun bounces off the sea floor and up into the cave), lunch at a fishing village on Vis, snorkeling off Stiniva Bay, followed by an afternoon tooling around the rich & extravagant harbor of Hvar before turning back. We booked it the day before, under the impression that the 20-passenger speedboat was as pictured at the travel office, only to show up at the harbor to find a glorified, 8-person double banana boat with a motor (not literally, but you get our level of concern considering this thing was taking us halfway to Italy. Cue Ed having second thoughts. It was now or never & so he took one for the team & we saddled our banana with the other trusting tourists. It was a beautiful day & the scenery was stunning - the variety of blues spread out before us were insane! The day was a success and Ed made it though without incident (he even snorkeled for like 10 mins)! The impression of the Adriatic Sea has stayed with me long past our return home.
Inspired by it’s allure, I painted “Dive In” and “Blue Abyss”. “Dive In” is comprised of 3 separately painted layers of acrylic plexiglass, providing depth & interplay when the light hits it. (Currently at stop #420 on the EAST Austin Studio Tour, 1300 E 5th)
The original of “Blue Abyss” is sold, however prints are available here.
