Garden Eels and a Starry Night of Wonder

June 13, 2024

I’ll tell you a little bit about this painting. It started as an idea I got when I was at the Sonoran desert museum in Tucson, Arizona. I don’t take many trips, even though I’d like to travel. I do like reading travel magazines and looking at pictures of people in South America and volcanoes.
In the background of this painting is a piece of paper that I painted on at an artist residency at Hambidge Art Center up near Dillard, Georgia way up in the mountains. I really enjoyed being way up in the mountains, even though I don’t live in the mountains. I like the hills and the green and the creeks. One time I saw an otter there with Jim and Amanda.
These creatures in this painting were inspired by Garden Eels, which live most of their life and tiny holes in a sandy bottom of the ocean. Indontncare for big eels but these creatures looked more like a friendly puppet.
I painted it and thought it was finished , but it didn’t relate to anybody and nobody wanted it. So God and all the Spirits in the air made me think on it more so I could make it what it was supposed to be. So I painted over it and around it and covered up parts of it and now it’s special, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
The little yellow face is make me so happy, and I covered up all the parts that weren’t good enough. So it has nothing to do with the Sonoran desert, or the artist residency at Hambidge up in Dillard in between the mountains. But God and all the Spirits did give me the opportunity to make this little painting what it was supposed to be. For this I am grateful.
This painting is house paint and oil marker on a 12” wooden panel. I am very thankful for the benefits that making art does for my brain and for those around me that appreciate the things I create. Much Love and Many thanks.

See you Soon,
Kyle BlackCatTips Brooks

P.S. Hey… please go to BlackCatTips.com and sign up for my Very Occasional Email List.

Below is my photo of the Garden Eels I took at the museum.