"What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner." Colette

Jul 29, 2018

Inspired by Wyland

Guess who I got to meet?  Marine artist extraordinaire Wyland, who has completed 100 Whaling Walls around the world in order to spread awareness and appreciation of our underwater neighbors. I recommend you perform a Google Search, for they are spectacular.


Perhaps you’ve been fortunate to see one of Wyland's walls up close (me: #40: Inner City Whales, his Port Authority mural in Manhattan); or watched him painting away on his PBS show.

Wyland was visiting his gallery in South Lake Tahoe Saturday night, so I was finally able to to tick another item off my Bucket List. 
I’ve been hoping to speak to Wyland since he participated in a show at the Jacob Javitz Center in NYC ten years ago.  I was still on Ruff Life in Puerto Rico, therefore the possibility to attend was impossible.

So I did the next best thing:  sent Sis into Manhattan to present him with one of my higüera centerpieces (above).  He, in turn, presented Hill with a copy of his coffee-table book for me, inscribed with a very nice compliment about my art.
While I was teaching myself nautical art in the Caribbean I used Wyland’s work as a source of inspiration.  How could I not?  Even though I can't paint the way I used to because of wonky hands, I wanted to thank Wyland for sharing his art the way he does. Take a moment to look at his Foundation's page.
I may not have been able to help Wyland on his whaling walls, but I'm still volunteering to help his foundation, for which I got 'knuckle knocked'.  Isn’t it fun to meet celebrities? I get tickled every time.

1 comment:

  1. What a nice coincidence! You go, girl!! You could probably paint better than 99-99/100ths of the population with the brush taped to your hand!
    But I have a question: There are only four and a half years difference in our ages, so how come your hair is still dark brown and mine is white???

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