Enteroctopus Dofleini
76 cm
The buoy at the centre of this piece was found by Ocean Adventures Charters on their beach clean-up initiative in the summer of 2021. It was found in the Sinnett Islands on the Central Coast. It likely was once used in the recreational or commercial prawn or crab fisheries to mark where traps had been placed on the seafloor. The smaller buoys are old salmon gillnet corks that I found washed up on Balaclava Island near the Northern tip of Vancouver Island where I also found the rope it hangs from.
I have painted this piece with a forest of bull kelp and a giant Pacific octopus. These kelp forests provide important habitat for many juvenile marine species on our Pacific Coast and are an essential part of a healthy marine ecosystem. Giant Pacific octopus can live as long as 4-5 years and are incredibly intelligent. Each arm is thought to have independent “thinking” capacities and each sucker has incredibly complex sensory capabilities with thousands of chemical receptors. They can change the colour and texture of their skin to blend in their surroundings or to appear more menacing. This marvellous creature has not iron-based blood (like us), but copper based (hemocyanin) and so has a slight greenish/blue tinge. Any human who has had an interaction with one of these amazing organisms comes away with a great appreciation for the intelligence and distinct personalities of our very distant marine cousins. I’ve also painted a black rockfish, sunflower sea star, a painted anemone, urchins, ochre sea stars and vermillion sea stars.