Don’t Butter Me Up

Buddy here is an interesting crab

He is really big.  Covered in barnacles and maybe tough and old!  It’s so big that the crows and seagulls thought better of going after him.  They were very much interested but he was too big for them to tackle.  He was very aware they were nearby.  Not sure how crabs hear but for sure they can see. He kept turning into their direction to keep an eye on them.

From what I have observed throughout my entire beach combing experience is that crabs are really on this planet as a food source. So many things and especially birds want to eat them.  Hence “Don’t Butter Me up” was painted.

When I was taking the photos I really did try not to get disturb it, although I really wanted the up-close shots.  I had a long lens and squatted with my nose almost on the ground.  At one point it did turn away that is when I realized that I may be bothering him.  So I left him alone.  However during our encounter I was able to take many exciting reference photos. 

Then I was able to get even more on the way back from our walk. I was just full of ideas of what I would be able to create after my successful day of shooting.  Originally I thought I was going to crop the photo and focus in on it’s “face” then I decided that the whole critter was really to interesting and decided I had to paint it barnacles and all. I also thought I would paint him super huge – then I reconsidered and went with 11 x 14”.

I thought it may be  really creepy to see a crab oversize in realism. That may be the stuff bad dreams are made of.  Although there may be a painterly version in my future. During the September 30 Paintings in 30 Day Challenge, I painted another crab “Out in the Open” 8 x 10”. Both of these are painted on Ampersand Gessobord, a really slick surface (official description “the fine tooth of this surface is delicate enough for fluid strokes and fine detail”) and works with acrylics or oils.  I love this product as it allows me to achieve clear and crisp details that are challenging on canvas – particularly on smaller scale paintings.