11″ x 15″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2019.

When I see this family - which is rare these days - I also see two who swam with them for awhile. I remember the joy of it: a grandmother with her new baby, one of her daughters also with a new baby, the big sister/aunt to both babies, and the uncle/brother who was so protective of them all.

The babies now gone, the four adults swim on. It’s still a joy to see them. Mike J26, Alki J36, Slick J16, Echo J42; and the memory of Sonic J52 & Scarlet J50. Life and life changes can break your heart... wide open. Finding joy and resiliency in all I encounter is my new rebellion.

11″ x 15″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2019.

Young anemones on their mom are protected under the canopy of her tentacles which contain stinging cells (nematocysts). They remain here until large enough to stand a good chance of surviving on their own. They then crawl toward independence, claiming their own piece of the ocean bottom. Interestingly, these creatures begin life as female then transition to hermaphrodite.

You can read more about them on The Marine Detective’s website!

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2018.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases my hopeful future of the Salish Sea: Abundance, the delicate dance of Salish Sea species. 

Above, a humpback whale feeding on herring schools while migrating towards Alaska summer feeding grounds. Below, eelgrass meadows that support our many small creatures including herring, which in part feed our dwindling population of chinook salmon, which feed our critically endangered southern resident orca. Here I’ve depicted two favorite whales of the mere 74 we have left in this population: Spirit (L22) and her son Solstice (L89).

A majority of us know that removing dams, fish farms & pollution in the Salish Sea and the rivers that feed into it is key to the survival of herring, salmon, orca, US. More of us are harassing our elected officials to remind them they work for us, not big business or special interests. More of us are calling out or shunning big businesses that put shareholder profits before community health & well being. More of us are tuning into the leadership of native tribes that had lived in connection with nature here for at least 300 generations before we arrived. More of us are realizing that our very presence here is part of the problem. Human overpopulation, shoreline development, trash, waste mismanagement, roads, cars - none of us are exempt from blame, consequence, awareness, forgiveness and evolution. Our current systems are failing all of us - how can each of us help them evolve?

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2018.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases dandelions, the most resilient beings on our planet that I know. 

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2018.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases my rendition of T65A6’s birth in May 2018, based on an eyewitness orca birth story shared with me. A person living on one of our remote islands was hanging her laundry on a line, outside her cabin on a cliff overlooking the Salish Sea. Below, a group of orca circled around another orca giving birth, then the group raised the newborn to the surface on their rostrums to take it’s first breath of air.

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2018.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases the beauty & grace of Salish Sea seastars, originally conceived in 2015 at the height of the west coast seastar wasting disease.

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2016.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases my rendition of the Cascadia flag.

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2016.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases my rendition of the Salish Sea at sunrise. This is a particular view from a house sit job on Decatur island facing east towards the mainland.

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2016.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases my rendition of the american and unity flags.

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2016.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases my rendition of the Salish Sea at sunrise. This is a particular view from a house sit job on Decatur island facing east towards the mainland.

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2015.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases the eelgrass meadow life of the Salish Sea, including one of my favorites: Hooded Nudibranch.

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2015.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases the beauty & grace of Sea Lions under the Salish Sea.

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil paint on paper. 2015.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases the “charismatic megafauna”of the Salish Sea: baby Scarlet (J50) with her mom Slick (J43) and auntie Shachi (J19).

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2015.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases the tidepool life of the Salish Sea.

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2015.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases the underwater kelp bed life of the Salish Sea.

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2014.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases every insect and bloom myself and a friend encountered one May afternoon hiking up to the top of Point Disney on Waldron island to enjoy the sun setting behind Stuart island. Succulents, delicate lady slippers, western starflowers, chocolate lilies, wild honeysuckle, camas, buttercups, and one more whose name I forget. I hiked this trail many times the year I lived on this island, it was different each time.

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2017.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases family of barn swallows I spent an entire spring watching on Decatur island.

9″ x 12″ ink, pencil & paint on paper. 2017.

This original mixed media artwork on heavy watercolor paper showcases a papa common murre and his offspring.

Common Murres nest in large colonies on rocky ledges and cliffs. The female lays a single egg in a shallow depression in on the ground. Both the male and the female incubate the egg. Both the male and the female care for and feed the chick until it fledges. They bring the chick three to five fish each day.

When the chick is ready to fledge, the male swims below the cliff and calls out to it. The chick then hurls itself off the cliff edge and drops 800 to 1,000 feet into the ocean, where it swims out to its father! The male stays with the chick and cares for it and feeds it until it is able to fly.