This Snow Crab painting took many hours to complete with numerous thin washes built up layer upon layer.  The way that the painting slowly emerged reminded me of years ago when I used to print black and white photos.  In the darkroom under the dim red glow, it was always exciting when the image first appeared and then nervous anticipation would set in once it came time to bring the print into the light for closer examination.

The most interesting area is the crab’s body shell as it resembles a lunar landscape with craters and valleys to explore.  I usually work with side-lighting and here it was really effective in bringing out the quality of the surface texture.