Almost Immortal

Acrylic Painting on Canvas
24" x 24"

Jellyfish

Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella-shaped bells and trailing tentacles, although a few are not mobile, being anchored to the seabed by stalks. The bell can pulsate to provide propulsion and highly efficient locomotion. The tentacles are armed with stinging cells and may be used to capture prey and defend against predators. Jellyfish have a complex life cycle; the medusa is normally the sexual phase, the planula larva can disperse widely and is followed by a sedentary polyp phase source.

Why do you call it Almost Immortal ?

Jellyfish is one of the world's wonder for it can be considered as immortal. It doesn't have a brain but it can live for a very long time by continually transforming from medusa back to the polyp state, therefore escaping death.

An unusual species, Turritopsis dohrnii, formerly classified as Turritopsis nutricula,might be effectively immortal because of its ability under certain circumstances to transform from medusa back to the polyp stage, thereby escaping the death that typically awaits medusae post-reproduction if they have not otherwise been eaten by some other ocean organism. So far this reversal has been observed only in the laboratory. source

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	This is my second artwork with a jellyfish as the main subject I am quite skeptical if I could make this thing glow just like my digital illustration of "Where the waters take me".

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And now, I would like to take you on a visual tour on how I painted the "Almost Immortal"

MATERIALS

• 24" x 24" Framed Canvas
• Acrylic Paint ( Black, White, Lime Green, Cyan )
• Paint Brush ( Pointed )
• Cotton String
• Water

PROCESS

BACKGROUND AND STRUCTURE

On a 24"x24" framed canvas, I poured black acrylic paint for the dark background. As long as possible I wanted to make the painting glow without using actual glow in the dark paints or agents. (This is part of some of my painting experiments)

After the black paint has dried, I started to sketch the outline of my Jellyfish using white acrylic. It is drawn like it is swimming towards upper right corner of the canvas.

I dipped a cotton string to a cyan acrylic paint and dropped it to the canvas. Some parts on the string was directed to create the texture of the tail. I put a cardboard on the top of the painted strings and pull the strip with my hand while the other hand pressed the cardboard to the canvas. I repeated the process with lime green and white.

I added a straight-looking lines with the beautiful tails. And added some details using paintbrush. This is a little bit tricky because sometimes it seemed like it's not enough so I tend to add more colors on it, thus the addition of solid details were present.

DETAILS

The addition of solid details and parts are more visible at this stage. The Jellyfish must still look whimsical as much as possible so that I could portray them as magical creatures. I added a flowery-like and vine looking parts on its tail

FINISHING TOUCHES AND FRAMING

I accentuated the background with the same set of acrylic colors in a more abstract way. I also added bubbles using white acrylic paint to signify that it is breathing and living.

The frame was later added to finish the painting. I went to a local furniture shop which makes customized materials using palochina. I thought that a natural wood color would be perfect for this piece.

Exhibited in Flora and Fauna last May to August 2019 at The Museum at De La Salle University, Philippines.

I hope you all like it !

Thank you for dropping by . If you have comments or suggestions, my comment section is welcoming you with a smile :)

Have a nice day !