Underwater Art

This unique art movement began over 100 years ago with artist Walter Howlison Pritchard. As a student, Walter became fascinated with the underwater world and wanted to capture its beauty in his art. As such, he used to hold his breath while sketching beneath the waves; a process that no doubt took a lot of time and energy! Thankfully though, with today’s modern technology, underwater artists no longer have to hold their breath. Instead, they’re fully trained scuba divers with all the necessary equipment to relax and let their creativity flow!

Although hard to believe, Ukraine has a national school of underwater painting. Among its students is one of the leading underwater painters in the world, artist and diver Alexander Belozor. Apart from using a special waterproof canvas, Alexander claims that underwater painting is just like regular painting. The oil-based paints which he uses are no different from regular paints and the technique is the same. However, certain difficulties arise.

For a start, the artists only have a limited amount of air while they are painting. Their air tanks only allow them to stay underwater for 40 minutes, so while painting is usually a lengthy task, that is certainly not the case for an underwater artist! In fact, each painting generally takes less than an hour to complete! On top of this, being underwater makes it harder to see colour. In particular, red paint may appear brown or even black! As a result, the artists may surface to find their painting looks different from how they imagined it!

So with these problems in mind, why then do these painters go to such lengths for their art? Well, scuba-artist Oksana Bilyk says that the human eye is more sensitive to underwater colours than any camera. So in order to accurately portray this world, you need to experience it. Well, the results of their work are certainly impressive and have even earned one of the artists a place in the Guinness Book of World Records!