Captain C. Gull on Alert, Too - A return, A reframe

Every so often, I find myself drawn back to earlier works. Not with the intention of revisiting the past, but with the curiosity of seeing them anew—almost as if someone else had made them. With time and distance, your perspective shifts. What once felt finished begins to feel like a doorway, still open.

That’s how Captain C. Gull On Alert, Too came into being.

This new work emerged from a return to an original piece in the Captain Seagull series. As I looked again, I began to recompose—truncating, expanding, working in closer. And as I did, something remarkable happened: Captain C. Gull presented himself in a different kind of way. He stepped forward in the composition, more dominant, more defined—almost watchful. The abstraction of the water still danced around him, but now the sense that one is looking at water was stronger, more apparent.

It was a surprise. A very interesting surprise.

In this work, unlike Captain C. Gull On Watch (original) or On The Helm, or even the nested image in Rip’s Liquid Surrealism, the emphasis shifts. The seagull is no longer a component of the vessel. He is the figurehead. The hero of the story.

So I titled it Captain Seagull On Alert, Too—a play on both two and too—because this time, it felt like the Captain was alert to me. Watching me, just as I had once watched him.

Art, like the water that inspires it, is in constant motion. And sometimes, looking back is how we move forward.

Feeling the pull of this surreal moment? Secure your own limited-edition print of Captain C. Gull on Alert, Too by visiting the product page here.