If you don’t like the bright blue base of Oak Harbor’s new kraken sculpture, don’t worry about hurting the artist’s feelings.

He doesn’t like it, either.

Bill Hunt, who built Oak Harbor’s controversial downtown artwork, will be returning to the city next week to repaint the brightly-colored cement base with the hope that the attention will return to the giant copper octopus.

The bright blue paint used for the base started drawing criticism from the public after it was applied last month, which prompted a representative from the city to request the change before the base was covered with a sealant.

“I have to tell you, when we got done with the piece with the final color coat, I thought it was too much also,” Hunt said. “It’s too bright. It’s too contrasty. It’s just garish compared to the rest of the thing. I’m all in favor of making this color change. Apparently, what the city wants is for it to be subdued quite a bit.”

Hunt, who lives in Depoe Bay, Ore., was commissioned by the city to create the copper-and-steel sculpture for $33,000.

The artwork arrived in Oak Harbor a month ago and was bolted to the sidewalk at Pioneer Way and City Beach Street. The copper-and-steel octopus and Nautilus came mounted a steel mesh frame with Hunt and a helper still needing to apply stucco and paint to finish the base, which resemble ocean waves.

The bright blue color placed the focus on the base instead of the sculpture and prompted complaints, said Skip Pohtilla, chairman of the city’s arts commission.

“It was just too bright,” Pohtilla said. “It looked more like Caribbean water.”

Cac Kamak, the city’s senior planner and liaison to the arts commission, discussed a solution with Hunt, who agreed darker shades were needed.

An arts commission sub-committee was formed to look at different color options.

Hunt said he believes the problem lies within the white stucco undercoat and wants to switch to gray, which he believes will tone down the blue significantly.

Jeff Baggett, Hunt’s brother-in-law, built a concrete mold, showing different combinations of stucco and paint that will be examined by the sub-committee.

The idea is for the waves to better represent the color of Puget Sound waters, Pohtilla said.

“Once the color sample has been selected, then they can try to match it up, put it on the base and make it look like more of a roiling angry sea disturbed by the kraken and the Nautilus.”

The sculpture has created some controversy with the sea creature made famous in Jules Verne’s 1870 novel swallowing up a submarine in a Navy town — not a depiction that sits well with Oak Harbor Mayor Scott Dudley.

However, the arts commission wanted a sculpture that would be an attention grabber at the entrance to historic downtown and voted 3-2 in favor of it.

The additional work will involve applying another half-inch thick layer of stucco and a new paint.

“We got all kinds of positive input until we did the color,” Hunt said with a laugh, “so we’ve got to fix that.

“Everybody’s got to be happy, including me.”