As a wildlife artist one of my greatest joys is painting an artwork about a personal experience with wildlife. I took these photos free-diving with cow nosed rays in the Galapagos. We hung out for a while and I got somewhat close, until I couldn't keep up and they carried on back into the blue.

This painting occurs just offshore of Isla Floreana, from a dive trip with a Puerto Ayora charter in the Galapagos. I was snorkeling on a break between dives with when out of the blue a school of cow nosed rays appeared.

A close up photo reveals a splashy warm mixture of yellow ochere and siennas as a background with a cow nosed ray that is loosely painted with blues and earth tones. I sketched in a background with a white china marker.

Two cow nosed rays swim out of an abstract action painting. This ocean wildlife painting was started in Peru, developed in Qualicum Bay, BC and finished in Sherwood Park, AB.

A loosely painted school of cow nosed stingrays is shown in iridescent interference blue acrylic paint. I like painting underwater scenes with shapes we might not identify right away, to match how unidentified animals can emerge out of the blue when I'm snorkeling.