Neighbourhood (on hold)
89cm
On this piece I have painted one of my all time favourite animals, the giant pacific octopus and two of my favourite species of rockfish, vermilions. I have painted them in a golden kelp forest with a sunflower seastar, plumose anemones, blood seastars, sea urchins and purple ochre seastars.
The top and bottom floats are from an old gillnet are carved from cedar and painted with tar. Before plastic was available this is what fishermen used. They are heavier and can get damaged easier then plastic but they eventually degrade unlike plastic buoys used today which is why they are rare to find. The cedar floats were found by my friends Andrew and Ava on Hornby Island. The centre float was found on a beach on the central coast and was made in Korea. It was probably used in some type of gillnet fishery as well. The line this piece hangs on is from the groundfish fishery and was donated to me by a local fisherman.