Still Lifes-Crabshells

For this folder I choose to show my art viewer a group of crabshell paintings I've painted over the years. All of them were painted from life but in different compositions, sizes, or numbers. They all, though, show my appreciation for the super shells of once moving crab creatures, either regular crabs or horseshoe crabs, of the sea in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Baby Horseshoe Crab 2007 oil 20.00 x 16.00 inches $300

Horse Shoe Crab on Gold 2016 acrylic 20.00 x 16.00 inches $300

Horseshoe Crab on Blue 2017 watercolor 20.00 x 16.00 inches $295

For this baby horseshoe crab painting, I chose to oil paint it with the drama and demonstration a Big-time, Baraoque painting with Rembrandt in mind. How? By painting it in a chiaroscuro, light and shade painting with great golds in various shades and a dark shadow with soulfull felt attitude.

For this horseshoe crab watercolor, with heavy solid watercolor brushstrokes I show the rough-sea-weathered expression of a horseshoe crab that's had a tough but tremendous life. By also showing its various dark and light shades of browns, golds, and even white highlights over a dark blue shadow over light blue color I was able to capture its presence solidly for the viewer to witness well.

Four Crab Shells 2006 acrylic on canvaspaper 22.00 x 28.00 inches $300

If He or She Were Alive This Crab Claws Forward 2004 16 x 20 inches watercolor $295

For this wonderful watercolor of a crab with all claws as a shell, I show the viewer how this cool crab once looked before dying. Even thought its dead, its lively presence can still be felt visually well.

Two - Sized Crabshells with Two Claws Each 2004 watercolor 16 x 20 inches $295

Fully Fabulous Crabshell 2004 acrylic on canvaspaper 16 x 20 inches $295

When painting this watercolor I remember something one of Painting Professors once said when painting a picture for a studio class at American University I once took: "I don't even know what I'm doing." I, however, do know I had a lot of creative fun creating this for myself and the viewing audience.

Paul Zapatka - Three Crab Shells with Tw

Three Crabshells with Two Claws 2014 watercolor $300