Seasons in the Sun
by
Raymond A. Massey

The two whale paintings are a matched pair which show the two extreme climates in which the humpback whale lives. The humpback is the most acrobatic of baleen whales, as any tourist to Hawaii can appreciate. The humpback follows the sun to the tropics in winter and returns to the arctic in summer.

A favorite playground of the humpback is shown in this painting of the water off the Na Pali Coast. Here deep vertical spires of rock thrust upwards from the shore and could have been sculpted in ice as well as rock. One spot in particular, just to the east of Honapu Valley, has a similar appearance to the spires and chasms of a glacier face. This similarity, which I have noticed in the past, seemed like an ideal subject for a pair of paintings.

  
 
   

Winter

The painting "Winter" shows the section of the Na Pali Coast just to the east of Honapu Valley (Valley of the lost tribe). This enchanted section of coast is a magical place of mysterious geology. Deep purple and green depths contrast with the rich sunlit spires and turrets.

To this magical land of Hawaii the great ones come in winter to give birth in its warm blue waters. When born, the young whale is entirely white and must be nudged gently by its mother to the surface so as to get that first breath of life. The young calf feeds only on its mother's milk, learns important water world lessons, and breaches in play, high into sun and foam. A baby frolics into a youth, and soon enough it is time to "fly wing," at the mother's side as the humpbacks return north to feed on Alaska's bounty.

  
 
   

Summer

The painting title "Summer" shows how the spectrum of the whale's world changes from the warm tones of Hawaiian winter to the cool icy colors of Alaskan summer. The calf is now a juvenile, eager to explore, yet not too far from mom. The pair are on patrol, off a glacier face, in the summer wonderland of Alaska. Harbor seals watch warily as these leviathans majestically pass by. Many glaciers, such as the one shown, break into tightly packed masses of vertical shards or columns as they slide under colossal pressure over the un-even rock base. The sun works on the exposed tops of these columns, turning them into fanciful shapes that tease our imagination.

During their stay in Alaska humpbacks gorge themselves on krill, shrimp and herring, almost without rest, converting this bountiful food supply into stored energy for their yearly trek to Hawaii where they will give birth to their young. Miraculously, the adults will not feed again until they return to these Alaskan waters.

 

-Raymond A. Massey