The challenge for March is Mice. Let your imagination go!

By Olga Harhaj I wasn’t sure if I would have anything to submit for this challenge until I looked on the empty wall in my family room.

I had collected the shells, silver dollars and other preserved sea creatures over the decades in a box and didn’t know what to do with them until we moved to South Lancaster. I also found a net in same the box and decided to display everything as a collage on the wall. Seems not only paintings belong on walls.

By Susan Latreille I thought the February challenge would be a pass for me. I have photos ‘at the sea’, ‘on the sea’, ‘out of the sea’ but nothing ‘under the sea’. Then I had a Eureka! moment.

This is a ‘manipulated photo’ (thank you Milo Smith for that–to me–unfamiliar term) of the pond on our property. The photo was taken in April 2020 during Covid and the editing done in February 2021–still in Covid times. My attempts at editing were to have this photo look wet, maybe somewhat like looking at the decor in an aquarium.  I’m not sure how successful it is but it was fun trying.

And how does this photo fit the challenge theme? Ten thousand years ago our pond was at the bottom of the Champlain Sea!

By Sue Irving Here are my attempts at Under the Sea.  The first one was done late last spring during Covid’s first wave.

The second, “Tropical Fish”, is my latest attempt at doing something on the Fresh paint app.  I am still experimenting with the effects I can get using this app. I must admit that it really whiles away the hours!

By Tina Whitman My painting met two purposes, the challenge for February and my son’s birthday. 

My son Dan is an avid free diver and sent me a video of a dive he did close to home on Vancouver island. I tried to put different landmarks together and came up with this painting. 

Once I finish  applying the wax, buffing and letting it dry, it will be packed up for shipping out west.

By Kerry Herwynen McIntosh Not much to say about these.February is too short a month. the works are both mixed media and a lot of that media is plastic. Most of the mixed media is plastic. And then wrapped in plastic. Hard to see in a photo. It’s a comment on the amount of plastic waste that ends up in the ocean.

By Lynne Ayers There is definite value in offering these challenges – the subject of this challenge is something I probably would never have attempted, or thought of, and I had trouble getting started. It definitely went through some serious “holy crap this is awful” stages – so bad that I thought, “Well I can’t make it any worse” and so I kept playing. 

By Yvonne Callaway  I wanted to challenge myself, move out of my comfort zone, with this month’s topic.

I worked in portrait, because it seemed unlikely for a seascape. I also worked v-e-r-y slowly (for me.) It took about three weeks, letting the painting tell me what it wanted –okay, maybe we’ve been in lockdown a little too long. I progressed intuitively, creating marks and shapes, adding 3-D objects. I also limited colours, not my usual modus operandi: blues & greens with a few rare splashes of coral, black and white.

I wanted a feeling of deep sea, without anything being spelled out. I think the piece feels mysterious, alive and, yes, sub-aquatic.

By Milo Smith Underwater is a challenge for a photographer in winter especially one who no longer has a wet-suit and dive camera.  So I looked through my inventory and come across some images taken at the San Francisco aquarium many years ago.  I took each image and then modified the colours of the jellyfish and sometimes the background in Photoshop to produce the following images. With a nod to Andy Warhol.

By Elaine Delves I started this during October 2020 to give to my youngest granddaughter for Christmas. Well, I never finished it. But thanks to this February challenge she just might get it after all. Easter maybe? Haha!

By Jeanne Bougie-Desjardins As I initially read the theme Under the Sea, it suggested images of the many ancient Greek myths.  Remembering the grandeur of the architecture it immediately placed me in the world of Atlantis.  Hence arches and pillars subtly appeared on my canvas.

By Francois Desjardins I tend to work on many pieces at one time and, in this case, the chosen theme was a good prompt. As inevitably our studio discussions ended up on the great legends of Atlantis, I quickly focused on the idea of some unknown deity emerging from the sands of Atlantis, washes up on the beach.  This has lead to a few pieces on that theme, and a lot of listening to Donavan’s Atlantis, an old favourite of ours. [Jeanne Bougie-Desjardins & Francois are a creative and romantic team, Ed.]

By Bobi Leutschaft Poitras You will now see the level I have stooped to during this pandemic.  When you scroll down, you will see a painting of a fish on a wine glass. I would like to say I didn’t paint that, but, you know, wine.  

In order to redeem myself (just a little), I painted another fish a couple of days later, sans wine.  (I really hope pointing out which was which wasn’t actually necessary, but…!)

This was my first glass painting experience and it has given me an even deeper appreciation for our glass painters! I will definitely enjoy wine out of both glasses.  Not at the same time.  Come on!