Blushing Underwater

Blushing Underwater

Medium: Acrylic, oil stick, pastel, pencil, charcoal and spray paint on premium raw canvas.
Size: 83 × 108 cm

Blushing Underwater captures that fleeting moment when you slip beneath the surface for a quick dip — that split second of complete submersion before coming back up feeling more alive.

Inspired by nature, water and the soft blush of colour beneath the surface, the work reflects those unrepeatable flashes of light seen from below — refracting through the water, shifting, breaking and disappearing almost as soon as they appear.

The painting was built through instinctive mark-making on raw canvas. Pieces of bark were used to create many of the strokes, alongside brushes, pencil, fingers, charcoal, spray paint and other mark-making tools, allowing the surface to develop naturally through scratches, gestures and unexpected traces.

It is about that brief suspension beneath the water — light moving overhead, the outside world momentarily softened — before resurfacing refreshed, awake and alive.

This artwork is carefully rolled and shipped in a protective tube, unless stretching or framing is selected prior to checkout.

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Shannon Riches is an abstract expressionist artist based on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. With a 30-year background in graphic design and illustration, his work now centres on intuitive mark-making and tonal exploration inspired by the coastline and the Dandenong Ranges.
His process is tactile and instinctive — often painting with his hands, bark and found natural materials alongside traditional brushes to build layered, organic surfaces. Shannon also produces music under the name Approaching Black, and sees both practices as expressions of the same language — composition, tone and atmosphere.
His paintings are created to feel lived-in and emotionally grounded — artworks that belong in real spaces, quietly shaping the story of the room.