Day 13. I’m Almost No Longer an Embarrassment to my Entire State

“Progress” 6×6, oil on canvas, 75.00 [button link=”http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/denise-hopkins/progress/367733″ type=”big”] Buy Now[/button]

Meet the artist: born and raised in South Louisiana, aversion to crustaceans. I think I admitted this particular character flaw a year ago when I attempted my first 30 in 30 challenge.

But I started painting seafood because it’s always around me, and the strangest thing has started to happen. I’m ever-so-slowly overcoming my fear of all sea things creepy crawly. My old motto was “if it swims in the sea, it don’t go in me!” and now it’s more like “give me a delicious sauce, and I’ll give it a go”. If that’s not progress, I’m not sure what is.

Last week Peter and I discovered the most AMAZING Mandeville restaurant, the Opal Basil, a tapas restaurant featuring quite the seafood selection. Although the beef dishes were my favorite, we ordered a crab, shrimp, and lobster (I think) fondue served with spinach chips. The out-of-this-world pimm’s cup with which I started may have made me braver, but I devoured the fondue like any normal Louisiana girl would.

And I’d like to think my seafood paintings have something to do with my newfound ability to re-envision crustaceans. Exposure therapy, I think it’s called. I explored them on my palette instead of my plate and they miraculously became less threatening.

This 100 paintings in 100 days is all about growth, and it’s safe to say I’m making leaps and bounds.

Below I’ve included a couple of my other available seafood paintings just in case anyone else needs a little art to help them be less of an embarrassment.

“First Bite” 10×10, oil on canvas $150.00 Click to Buy

“Clawing” 30×30, oil on canvas, $375.00 Click to Buy