Look Up series in progress

One of the things I love most about diving is knowing that I'm experiencing my environment in 360 degrees - and that's the ability to look up just as much as seeing the world below rapidly approaching as I descend. It's most obvious when I'm just below the waterline just about to surface and there are the ripples of light from the world I'm returning to above me. I've started this series of paintings to try and share some of the magic I experience just by looking up while underwater.

When I'm diving in a cave, the overhead ceiling mirrors my light in the pools caught in the rock above me. It's one of my absolute favourite things to shine the light on the ceiling to see the reflected light back down to the floor. Looking up also reveals so many things about how the water has shaped that environment over millennia. 

Sometimes, it's not just pools of light being spooned by the rock and reflected back. In a cave with many "decorations" I'm treated to the repeating mineralized water solutions in the form of fine stalactites. In my Look Up series, I want to capture the magic of what's above me. It's also a figurative reminder during these strange times to look at the positive. It's in my nature to stay optimistic but that's been a challenge during these times of social unrest and the isolating effects of the pandemic. These magical experiences remind me that there are things to look forward to once we get past this.