Last summer I painted this 12x12 panel for a big mural mosaic project called Kunamokst, which was recently unveiled at the Olympics in Vancouver. The finished mural is formed from hundreds of panels by individual artists and depicts a mom and baby orca whales. My panel number is 203....check out the finished mural http://www.muralmosaic.com/kunamokst.html
Salamat Pagi (good morning) Here are a couple of little watercolor/ink sketches I did while in Indonesia. Still finding it strange to be back here, but it is nice to be home. Must get back into the studio!
Yeah! We made it back late last night from Raja Ampat, Indonesia (Off the island of Papua) and 10 days on Sulawesi Island(Lembeh strait). In Raja we stayed aboard the Seven Seas live-aboard...diving through out the many islands. Brandon hasn't processed the underwater pics yet, so I just posted a few of the topside photos. We dived 3-4 times a day in the 83 degree water. The diversity of fish, corals etc. was astounding. It was a busy scene in that underwater city with creatures zooming in all directions all the time. We got to see a cave filled with skulls left over from headhunting days, swam through an amazing limestone cave around 200+ feet high filled with formations, hiked into the forest to see tarsiers, black macaque monkeys...and a huge python, dived among the mangrove roots (where we didn't see...although could have...salt water crocodiles), saw huge mantas being cleaned by tiny fish, saw the amazing octopus known as "wonderpus" which shifts shapes and colors in the blink of an eye, pygmy seahorses smaller than grains of rice. I ate every tropical fruit I could find including the very stinky durian fruit. It was a great trip and an amazingly interesting part of the world Salamat Malam for now (good night!)
Contact me: sirenagraphics@hotmail.com
Artist Melissa Cole often finds herself snorkeling with salmon, smooching manatees, and swimming with tiger sharks. It is from these amazing encounters that she derives much of the inspiration for her vividly colored, heavily textured and patterned acrylic paintings.
Cole was born in Oregon and raised in London, Hong Kong, and India. She graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Zoology and spent time as a naturalist guide in Mexico. She’s written over 30 children’s natural history books and travels with her husband Brandon, who is a wildlife photographer specializing in marine life. Melissa has always dabbled in art, but has spent the last ten years fully devoted to it. She is strongly influenced by ethnic patterns, which she sees in her travels abroad. “You’ll find lots of dots, and a distinct border pattern in each of my pieces.” Her work is found in galleries ranging from Stephan Fine Arts in Anchorage, Alaska to The Wild Side Gallery in Key West, Florida.
