A humpback, a gray whale, a sperm whale fighting a squid and an orca have come to life on the newly re-created Whale Walk at Doheny State Beach.
On Saturday, March 9, Jim Serpa, a former supervising ranger at the state beach, along with San Clemente High School marine science students and animation students from Cal State Long Beach, colored in the four whale forms and the squid they sketched out about two weeks ago.
The plan was to debut the completed marine life boardwalk during the Festival of Whales last weekend, but the inclement weather wasn’t ideal for painting the behemoths, Serpa said.
So, carrying gallons of paints, Serpa and his team, including CSULB animation instructor Kim Dwinell, expertly painted the whales to bring them to life. Most of the paint was black and white, but there was also red used to paint a giant squid that is shown fighting a sperm whale. That illustration was the hardest to paint, Serpa said.
“But it’s also the coolest and everyone’s favorite,” he said.
After the main work was done, Serpa and some of his hand-picked artists added finishing touches to make the whales come alive, like adding details to their eyes, shading, barnacles and sun splashes.
The Whale Walk first appeared in 1999, when Serpa decided it would be fun to educate the public about whales and show them how large they actually are in real life.
This is the third time the images on the boardwalk walk have had to be repainted.
The project is sponsored by Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching, Dana Point Harbor’s oldest charter business, and the Doheny State Beach Foundation.
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