Artist: Charles Sluga
Medium: Watercolour on high profile stretched canvas
Size: 147 × 110 cm

Painting Description

In ancient times, sailors believed that whistling on a ship was bad luck, as it was thought to challenge the wind and sea, potentially summoning violent storms.
In this painting, I sought to depict the fierce and unpredictable nature of the sea, a force that humans both admire and fear in equal measure.
As a playful counterpoint to the intensity of the scene, I included the alternate title “The Sea Was Angry That Day, My Friends” — a line from the character George Costanza in the TV show Seinfeld — to lighten the mood and add an element of humour. For me, it’s a reverence for the sea’s awesome might, with a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of human folly, highlighting the complex relationship we have with nature’s most unpredictable force.