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Atlas

Work-in-progress

A turtle bears an ocean world on her back, providing a haven for the marine life of our world.

At 2.1 x 1.8 metres, Atlas is the largest, most ambitious painting I have tackled to date.

She carries a vibrant coral reef, teeming with boundless biodiversity, home to an abundance of ocean animals from majestic whale sharks to tiny nudibranch. But all is not well. Atlas will bear evidence of humanity's impact, from coral bleaching to plastic pollution.

Just as the Greek Titan Atlas was cursed by Zeus to carry the heavens on his shoulders, here Atlas the turtle carries the ocean world on her back, perhaps cursed by humanity.

Atlas is both a celebration of the wonders of life in our oceans and an exploration of the issues endangering them.

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Painting Atlas is my effort to tell the story of the challenges and opportunities our oceans face, at this  critical juncture where our decisions and actions now will determine the fate of our blue planet.

I anticipate the final painting will take 18 months to complete. Before embarking on such a huge and complex composition, I undertook several planning stages which you can see below.

 

I'll share photos of my progress on here from time to time and I hope you enjoy following Atlas over the coming months.

Development of Atlas

Idea sketch

Idea sketch

Rough plan

Rough plan

60 x 80cm preliminary painting

60 x 80cm preliminary painting

'Origins' a section painted to scale

'Origins' a section painted to scale

Preliminary paintings Atlas & Origins

Preliminary paintings Atlas & Origins

2.1 x 1.8 metre painting board

2.1 x 1.8 metre painting board

From plan to canvas

From plan to canvas

April 2023

April 2023

May 2023

May 2023

June 2023

June 2023

Stage 1 complete

Stage 1 complete

Plan to draft

Plan to draft

First detailed section

First detailed section

'An Artist's Journey to Draw Attention'
ATLAS follows my journey over the summer of 2022 as I embark on painting 
Atlas and grapple with my role as an ocean wildlife artist and whether art can inspire change.

Watch the full documentary now on YouTube

ATLAS a short documentary

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Subscribe to my artist newsletter
for updates on Atlas, upcoming exhibitions, new artwork and offers

Shop the limited edition prints
from this project

Atlas
Origins WEB.jpg
Origins
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Subscribe to my artist newsletter
to hear about my upcoming exhibitions, art fairs, new drawings and offers

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