Caribbean Dreaming

While some of us in the Netherlands were stuck at home due to heavy snow, others have been stranded in the Caribbean islands for a few days. Unexpected news involving the U.S. and Venezuela suspended quite a few flights in some of those islands located closeby. Quite disturbing news not only for the holidaymakers out there, but also for the rest of the world. In fact, some of our friends were on a relaxing vacation chilling in Bonaire, only to be told no flights back to the Netherlands till further notice! Luckily though, they were able to fly out and made it back safely yesterday morning despite facing the heaviest snowfall in over 40 years. Imagine their amazement at all the snow though, especially having just been back from the tropics! As such, I was imagining what it would be like out there in the warm exotic Caribbean Islands when we are now cooped up inside trying to stay warm…

And here is my image of Bonaire where our friends spend their winter vacation! It is also a home to three of the world’s species of turtles, as I just discovered. Sheer coincidence because this digital painting merely started as a simple practice of drawing turtles for a future animal painting! A good chance too to play around with texture brushes like water and animal prints. In fact, the crisis was not even envisioned at the time of creating this, as I was just in the mood to paint “sea and summer” to distract myself from the cold dark Dutch winters. How wild is that! And it sure does warm us up, doesn’t it, especially during those few days of heavy snow we’ve been having. Loving those bright vivid colors I introduced, along with the shimmery background of water. Some roses too to practice drawing with and little animals for added kawaii. And now, here is wishing everyone on the Caribbean islands to stay safe, and praying the crisis in Venezuela doesn’t escalate…