Humpback Whales: Breaching and Singing

The picture of a humpback whale breaching was taken on a recent trip to a dive site. The underwater video from on one of our dives allows you hear the whale singing.



We were underwater when this underwater earthquake hit. The quake was very loud underwater and reverberated unlike anything we'd heard and felt before. Which makes sense, since it's the first time we've been underwater near an underwater earthquake! We were confused, because we'd been listening to the whale the whole time and it suddenly sounded very different. :) The sound made sense the next day when our dive master told us there had been an earthquake. One of her dive master friends had also been underwater to hear it and figured it out when the quake was mentioned on the evening news and the times matched.

What does all this underwater stuff have to do with my artwork? The article I wrote for a zine explains.

Time Management

What does one do when waiting for a plane? Relaxing on the beach after a long snorkeling session seems like a great way to spend the time.

Textures from the Sea

One person's candle decoration is another person's source of textures.

Look for some of these textures to be incorporated in my work. The urchin shell texture will be especially nice when shrunk 30%; it'll be nice and crisp.

I was reminded....

As I looked through the blogger gadgets the other day, I ran across the Miro gadget (see it -> below on the right). The gadget's Miro images reminded me of a visit to Fundacio Pilar i Joan Miro on Mallorca. The studio space was amazing, as were the views. The property is on a hill, overlooking the bay. The foundation holds print making workshops in one of the studios, displays the participants' results, and also exhibits the works of other artists. When we visited, there was an exhibition of Louise Bourgeois' work. You can see more pics of the foundation here.

Surprised to see a photo so far from a beach? Why was I on a trip and not diving? On a trip where the intention was to visit somewhere I wouldn't be drawn into the water, I didn't dive on this one. At Sant Elm, we saw a group heading out to dive (you can barely make out the dive zodiac below), and that made me want to head underwater.



And, from a bluff on another spot on the island we could see fish in the clear water below. More temptation!



Happily spending time on land on Mallorca, we enjoyed the abundant public art. Here's a pic of some of the scenery: a ceramic mural by Miro at Parc de la Mar in Palma de Mallorca.



Closeup of part of the mural

Whale Shark!

Until last week, the longest I'd ever seen a whale shark is twelve seconds over eight years ago. I know this because that's exactly how long the video of my first whale shark encounter is.



After the last dive of the trip last week, the boat captain starting yelling down to us as we were heading back to the beach. We looked over the side and saw a whale shark right below the boat. The 20 foot long creature hung out for a while about 15 feet below the surface as we snorkeled above it. Awesome!

You can now access the whale shark video from 2000, and other trip video and slide shows, over on the right hand side of this blog.

A Beach Full of Other People's Trash

On Monday night I cruised a beach on the Yucatan Peninsula looking for dead coral for making texture molds. In the picture below you'll see some of the pieces I found. And, *look* at all the sea glass I found. I was so excited I had to limit myself to picking up the less common colors.

Sure, I picked up a few dark brown and Heineken green, but look at all the light green and bluish green pieces! Other people's trash are now my treasures. The ideas for necklaces and rings and bracelets made with these pieces are swimming in my head. I wish I had more time before this weekend's show so I could make some of them. I'll let you know when I do and show you some pictures.

Clear Water, Clear Mind

SCUBA diving in clear warm water clears my mind, and a result I have new ideas for some earrings to create for this next weekend's The Virgin Artists' 6th Annual Show and Sale in Cupertino.

Look at the lush coral landscape in this minimally impacted area of the Carribean.

And, views like this when I'm above the water sure help!