Jellyfish in Newport, KY

A couple of weeks ago, I headed over to the Newport Aquarium in Newport, Kentucky, which is across from Cincinnati.

I had arranged and gotten permission to paint the jellyfish there on a Monday - when it would be relatively quiet. Being winter, it was a nice, warm place to paint some wildlife - and I particularly like jellyfish.

Besides looking interesting - I am intrigued by the fact that they are doing so well adapting to human activities. Most of the things ending up in the ocean are detrimental to fish and such, but jellyfish are thriving. They don’t mind it being warmer, being more acidic, having fertilizers thrown in. Plus people have eliminated much of their competition, while leaving them be.

So I packed up my paints like I always do, making sure I had a dropcloth, prepared panels, and all of the right colors that I would need. I spent the night in a cheap motel room (with hardly any heat!) so I could be there when they opened.

It was a good day. I created 3 smallish paintings. Plus I painted jellyfish on 2 larger panels that I finished the backgrounds on later after I brought them home.