Resurrection

8x10 inches

Acrylic, Paper, Colored Pencil, Canvas Board

An orca, drawn in a combination of traditional indigenous Alaskan art styles using red, black, and blue colored pencils, is adhered over a painting of the landscape and water in Resurrection Bay, Alaska. The green trees and land butt against a crystal blue ocean, blanketed by an icy sky and draped with snowy, craggy mountain tops.

Alaska captured my heart and my imagination. It is a land that feels otherworldly in its unspoiled beauty. The orca represents to me that same untamed and unspoiled, indifferent and terrible beauty. To the First Nations of Alaska, the orca represented protection and the strength of familial love, due to their complex and deeply bonded relationships within their pods. They are guardians of the sea, keeping watch over travellers as they pass through their waters. I wasn’t blessed with the sight of any orcas when I traveled across Resurrection Bay, but I will be back, and I hope to see one some day.