Abstract Tarpon Painting

Christopher is a colorblind marine artist, fisherman, diver, and reef keeper residing in beautiful Central Florida. Christopher paints colorful and breathtaking images of offshore fish such as mahi, marlin, and sailfish as well as sea turtles, sharks, coral reefs, and beautiful Caribbean fishes. He began painting and sketching as a child in Hickory, North Carolina, far from the ocean. He often found himself in the family pool, imagining that he could live and breath underwater much like the colorful fishes he would see on TV accompanied by the voice of David Attenborough. Over the years, Christopher found ways to express his affinity of creating artistic expression by designing tattoos, corporate identities, websites and even apparel. But it wasn’t until his NAUI certification in November of 2000 that he found a hobby that best suited his talents. While learning how to dive over the first few years of his certification, Christopher committed himself to learning to identify the countless marine fishes, invertebrates and corals on the reef. “The interesting thing about studying reef fish identification is that you couldn’t help but notice their individual beauty. Their iridescence, the gaudy colors, and their own independent evolutionary path makes all these creatures remarkable. Even the ‘ugly’ ones like the soapfish!” A few years into his certification, Christopher took the plunge into underwater photography by purchasing an Olympus PT-010 housing for his Olympus C4040z. Since that first excursion Christopher has made it through multiple iterations of equipment (film and digital), one housing flood, and many memorable photographs. His current underwater rig of a Sony RX-100 in a Meikon housing with an Inon UWL-100 wide angle lens and Sea&Sea YS-01grants him the ability to capture beautiful reference photos for his paintings.