CHAINS OF THE SEA (2018) by Michael Whelan

Sixth in his 2018 LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project

A small study for a larger planned painting that never happened.

I began working on this at the same time as the cover for Words of Radiance back in 2013. I felt it needed another element to seem “right” to me so I set it aside until last week when the final detail came to me. Once I added the lock on the second chain using leftover paint in a palette I needed to clean out, I finally considered the study complete.

Some paintings take a while to find their finishing flourishes.