One Very Opinionated Seahorse
Sometimes, one artwork can shift everything. For me, that “turning point” came in the form of a single seahorse painting—one that, frankly, was a wrestle to bring to life.
The struggle began with two challenges: the color palette and the technique.
The Color Palette
For years, I’d worked with the familiar “primary” colors—red, yellow, and blue. But as I painted, I found myself constantly adding cooler tones to get the range I wanted. The result? An overcrowded palette that felt inconsistent and overwhelming.
Enter the CMY palette—Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. By starting with these cooler primaries and mixing my own secondaries and tertiaries, I suddenly had a tighter, more cohesive range. My palette shrank from up to 20 colors down to just six, yet each color carried more depth and story. For someone who paints the ocean, it was like finding the missing puzzle piece after years of searching.
Messy, I know…but that range of tone and hue, though!
But it wasn’t just about color.
The Techniques
While working on this piece, I realized I’d been chasing a certain kind of “detail” for years—often by mimicking other artists—without realizing it wasn’t truly mine. Some of my most joyful works in the past had come from bold, expressive brushstrokes, not from microscopic precision.
One example of this is Full & By - I started this painting with a cartoonishly large brush to flesh out the contrast and color values before proceeding to the detail. It was very loose and felt so natural and interesting to me.
Full & By, 2025
The need for a change hit home one day on a quiet drive to the coast. My mind was swirling with a message I’ve wanted to convey for years—something about hope, awe, and living fully in the here-and-now while looking toward eternity. I prayed for clarity, and what came was a flood of ideas: a specific style, a specific palette, and a series of works that could carry this theme. I sketched them down before they could slip away.
Back in the studio, I began “testing the waters” on smaller canvases before tackling the larger works. Without the pressure of a big blank space, I could explore color, movement, and mood more freely. And in that process, certain motifs began to emerge naturally.
Ethereal Tides, 2025
The Emersion of Symbolism
Circles appeared first—graceful, floating shapes inspired partly by my background as a lyra (aerial hoop) artist. In the paintings, they became a visual nod to the human longing for the perfection on the other side of heaven, contrasted with “passing away” elements like dripping water, fading colors, and fragmented structures—reminders to live deeply now.
Then came “worlds within worlds”—small, contained spaces that invite viewers to notice the beauty in the everyday, while also urging a step beyond one’s own life to acquire a bigger-picture view of the world.
Finally, cultural elements began weaving in… there has always been this heartfelt weight to convey the idea of Revelation 7:9, of “every nation, tribe, people, and language.” One recent piece felt incomplete until I added Pacific Island tribal patterns. It was risky, but the textures and sense of place it brought made the piece come alive.
Lastly, the more the collection evolves, the more writing is working its way into the process—not just in my sketchbook, but in the art itself. After filling over sixty journals in my life, incorporating words feels like a natural extension of the work, adding layers of meaning and emotion.
On the Easel
A work in progress…
The first piece of this new chapter, Ethereal Tides, is nearly finished and will be my first limited edition print release. (More on this soon).
Other works are slowly taking shape in a rhythm of painting, observation, and quiet reflection. Even the woodworking side of my practice is developing alongside the paintings, creating a body of work that feels connected in message and form.
Looking back, it’s clear that the seahorse painting wasn’t just another project—it was the hinge point that opened the door to a more focused palette, a more authentic style, and a clearer vision. What began as frustration turned into a foundation for something bigger.
And from here, it feels like the tide is just starting to come in.
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With gratitude and joyful anticipation,
Ruth 🌊
