Painting ocean life and bioluminescence...wow!

I doubt I'll ever go diving because I've got this thing about breathing (I don't like the idea of getting my air from a tank for some crazy reason), but love to learn about the creatures that live in the ocean. Some are beautiful, some are frightening, but they are all amazing.

The ocean is a whole other world right here on earth.

A few years ago I was inspired by a documentary to start a painting of the view from below the surface looking up at the light from above. It's a deep blue canvas except for a circle of light and a couple of schools of fish swirling around the light. (I'll post a pic if I can find one.) I was never quite satisfied with the painting... it seemed to be missing something, but I could never figure it out. It has been sitting in the back room of my studio unfinished. A few days ago I decided to work on it again, and I checked out a book of from the library called "Underwater Eden 365 Days". It's got (as you might figure) 365 pictures of ocean life. I am - as always - completely blown away by the beauty of it all. There are some photos in the book of fish scales that actually look like flower petals. We are all so connected on this planet.

This all leads me to today's TED talk. Just in the right timing, the universe delivered me this talk on deep sea exploration and bioluminescence. You can check out the TED talk on the amazing world of bioluminescent underwater creatures below. I'm not sure how this will effect my painting, but stay tuned and find out!