Who Will Win the Golden Key?

Title: Who Will Win the Golden Key?
Medium: Acrylic
Genre: Animals, Fantasy
Size: 5x7 inches

The fish thinks he's got a good chance to take the key...but here comes the octopus. Now, what?

Fish Temple Redux

Title: Fish Temple Redux
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Genre: Fantasy, Animals
Size: 8x10 inches

This is one I started three years ago, and finally finished. Decided it was too barren, so I added some corals and some extra fish. If you search this blog for "fish temple," you can see the original.

Fish Story

Title: "Fish Story"
Genre: Animals, Fantasy
Size: 5x7 inches
Medium: Acrylic on panel

The big fish is splaining something to the little fish. The octopus has heard it all before.

Message in a Bottle

Title: Message in a Bottle
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 12 x 12 inches
Genre: Magic Realism, Fantasy

The fish are mystified at the writing on the message in the bottle. Little do they know it's only a game.
Note on the colors: I couldn't get this to scan the color accurately; the message in the original painting is more golden than orange. Cadmium orange does strange things on the scanner.

Drink Deep

"Drink Deep"
Genre: Still Life, magic realism
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 12x16

Discus Fish Study

Title: Discus Fish Study
Medium: Acrylic
Size: 6 x 6 inches

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Description: Sometimes when doing a large, complicated painting I need to make small studies of its various components. Here I have familiarized myself with the beautiful colors and markings of a discus fish. Tricky critters to paint!

Fish Temple

Title: "Fish Temple"
Size:8x10
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Genre: Fantasy

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This painting is a continuation of my exploration of underwater ambiguities. Maybe it's underwater, or maybe these fish have lungs and can fly. I'll let the viewer decide.

References: Dover's "Animals" book, which features over a thousand copyright free images for artists and designers. The Ionic columns are from a photo I took at Symphony Square in Austin, Texas. The seashell is one that hangs out at our house.

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2nd Underwater Teacup

"2nd Underwater Teacup"
5x5 inches
Acrylic on wood panel
Genre: Fantasy, Still Life

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This conveys the idea of an ambiguous envirnment. Is it on land, or underwater? It also conveys the idea of delicacy, a porcelain teacup, and soft sea creatures. Strong, yet vulnerable.

Underwater Teacup

"Underwater Teacup"
Genre: Still Life, Fantasy
Size: 6x6 inches
Medium: Acrylic on wood

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I'm fascinated with the idea of artifacts in a wild or natural setting. I love painting underwater scenes, and I love painting still life objects, and somehow, the two just go together for me.

Sea Shanty

"Sea Shanty"

Size: 24x30

Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Genre: Fantasy

SOLD! 

Rapunzel underwater

sang as mermaids do.

A shining seahorse drew her 

from her shanty of a tower,

and when the pair took flight,

morphed into a stately knight,

because she asked him to.

This one combines a trip to the Terlingua Ghost Town with of my love of underwater scenes. Terlingua is in the Big Bend area of Texas, and parts of that desert landscape were once under sea many eons ago. The Ghost Town has many fascinating adobe houses in various states of decomposition-- one of which particularly caught my eye and ended up in this painting. Also shown are the desert mountains in the background. The dark areas in this painting will form a vague shape similar to the state of Texas if you squint your eyes and use your imagination.

What do desert and ocean have in common? Perhaps it is that they are teeming with life forms not usually seen unless you go looking for them, and that there is a sense of vast expanse experienced in both environments.

I started this painting back in 2014 and only now came back to finish it-- life had intervened; there was caregiving for a beloved family member, the Hospice time, and the aftermath of tying up all the loose ends that people leave behind. 

Partial Knowledge

"Partial Knowledge"
Medium: Acrylic on stretched canvas
Size: 9x12

The Fish is curious about the key, but if he swallows it, it won't do him any good, and being metal he probably isn't interested in eating it. Meanwhile the Seahorse is studying the keyhole, but his snout isn't going to unlock it. Perhaps the Octopus will help them out.

I wasn't sure about the title, but this is good enough for the time being.

Watermark is NOT on the original painting. I've recently started putting subtle watermarks on my work, to help with marketing. And with other things.

The Neried

Title: "The Neried"
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 18x24
Genre: Fantasy
©Theresa Taylor Bayer

NFS


Description: A Neried contemplates her underwater life, surrounded by sea creatures. The fish going after the key symbolizes the quest for knowledge that may come at a price. The octopus symbolizes worldly concerns such as career, wealth, and lifestyle, since octopi are very intelligent and flexible. The seahorse symbolizes fun and childlike curiosity.

Moonfish

Inspired by Daily Paintworks "Moon" challenge. I love portraying the Moon, especially a crescent moon. In this one I was trying for some visual puns, with the night sky in the shape of a big fish, and the clouds in the shapes of more sea creatures. Signed on upper left corner. 6x6 inches, acrylic on wood panel.

SOLD

Friends With Fins

"Friends With Fins" 12 x 12 inches. Medium: acrylic on canvas. Genre: fantasy. Our lovely model in Friday painting studio was studying marine biology, so I thought it would be fun to portray her as a mermaid. I painted the fishes from some little plastic sea creatures that I received as a gift.
SOLD.

Seahorse Keyhorse, Octopus Locktopus

"Seahorse Keyhorse, Octopus Locktopus" 20x16 inches, acrylic on stretched canvas, genre fantasy. Story behind it: I used plastic toys for the sea creatures, and a lifedrawing for the mermaid. Took me 6 months to paint this thing. I got obsessed. From now on I'm not going to be as perfectionistic.

NFS

Seahorse and Company

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"Seahorse and Company" 6x6 inches, genre animals, acrylic on panel. See if you can find the mermaids, they're sort of hidden. Click the image to see it larger.

Deep Waters

Will the fish be able to unlock this heart? Maybe the octopus can help.
"Deep Waters" 8x8 inches, acrylic on panel. Genre: animals
Sold.

Fish With a Key

"Fish with a Key" Acrylic on panel, size 4x6 inches, genre: animals. I love visual puns, so that's what this is about. What the key represents is a mystery, left to the viewer's interpretation.

SOLD

Finished Painting of Profile (oil, glazes, Lady, cat, heron, fish)

"3 Keys to the Loch", 12 x 12 oil on canvas.

I finished the fish & the background, added in the keys, and now it's done. The water in the background looks like a lake, or loch, hence the title. The fish has a lock in its eye, and the other characters in the painting all have a key. Originally I was going to have just one key dangling off the lady's hat, but once I put the lock into the fish, I realized all three of the other characters had to have a key.

I entered this painting into a juried show AVAA 32nd Anniversary (Austin Visual Arts Association). 

WIP Stage two: True to my vision despite similarities

WIP stage two. Acrylic on 12x12 canvas. No title for this piece as of yet.

There are several images I've used consistently throughout the years such as a checkerboard, a fish, and figures in weird hats. Checkerboards, fish, and figures with strange headgear are also used extensively by an artist whose work I greatly admire. I mulled this over a lot and finally decided that since I was already using these images in clay and in watercolor over many years, and since my full intent is to create my own original vision, that it was OK to continue with them in paintings. So I put all three in this painting to challenge myself to use them and still present my own vision. I think I have succeeded. By the way, the fish has something the cat and heron both want--besides a nice fillet!