Exploring the Depths Within and Beyond the Sea
Through my work, I hope to deepen our connection with the ocean and wild places, inspiring a greater appreciation for their beauty, mystery, and the importance of protecting them.
Drawing inspiration from the Pacific Ocean, California’s wild landscapes, and the spaces between dream and reality, my work explores layered worlds shaped by nature, memory, and imagination.
featured work
don’t Play With Whitey
7×10 inch Oil on Panel.
The Boss
30×40 inch Oil on Canvas.
Manta in a Dream
24×36 Oil on Panel.
Original Artwork for Inspired Spaces
Each painting is an invitation to reconnect with the places that inspire us—bringing a sense of calm, wonder, and the spirit of the ocean into your home.
Surfboard Art
Growing up in San Diego, I developed a deep connection with the ocean at an early age. I started surfing when I was nine, and surfboards have remained part of my life ever since. By repurposing retired surfboards as canvases, I give them a second life through art while celebrating the places and wildlife that have inspired me for decades. Each piece reflects my connection to the ocean and my desire to encourage a greater appreciation for the wild places that deserve our care and protection.
Drawing from decades of self-directed study rooted in classical painting traditions, I have evolved from imagined realism toward a more intuitive and contemporary visual language. While recognizable forms remain present—manta rays, ravens, desert landscapes, symbolic figures—they function less as literal subjects and more as archetypal presences suspended within shifting emotional and spiritual environments.
Rather than documenting reality directly, Applegate’s paintings invite viewers into contemplative spaces that exist somewhere between dream, memory, and lived experience. His work resists fixed narrative, instead offering atmospheres charged with ambiguity, stillness, psychological tension, and quiet transcendence.
Tom Applegate
.Inspired by a lifetime spent along the Pacific coast and in the wild landscapes of of the west, my paintings explore layered realities through a blend of representation, abstraction, symbolism, and atmosphere. Marine life, memory, and emotional presence become gateways into immersive spaces that feel discovered rather than simply observed.
Working in oil on handcrafted Sierra Art Panels, Applegate creates immersive visual environments where natural forms, archetypal imagery, and textured surfaces converge. His work invites viewers to explore the shifting territory between the visible world and the unseen dimensions of experience..