Megaptera 

hangs 110cm long- circumference 59cm

This buoy was found by Ocean Adventures Charters on their beach clean-up initiative in the summer of 2021. It likely came from a crab fishery, either recreational or commercial to mark where the traps have been placed on the sea floor. It was found in the Normansell Islands near Aristazabal Island on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada. The line it hangs on is what it was found with. 

On this piece I have painted a humpback whale swimming with two chinook salmon through a golden bull kelp forest on a sunny day. The buoyant carbon monoxide filled bulbs, hold the fronds of this brown algae near the surface so it can photosynthesize. The long blades stream behind the bulb, rippling in the current. On sunny days, swimming through a kelp forest can feel like you are under a ceiling of golden stained-glass which undulates and sparkles with the moving water. 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. Humpback whales were once rare on the Pacific coast due to intensive whaling practiced during the early 1900’s. By 1960 the last commercial whaling station on the BC coast had shut down and with the international moratorium on commercial whaling signed in 1982, humpback populations have been making a slow recovery and are now returning in great numbers to the West Coast of Canada. It is now common to see these amazing cetaceans up and down our coast, blowing great breaths into the air and feasting on the rich marine life in the area. It is magical indeed to watch these mammoth marine mammals silhouetted in the sunset as they cruise along. I have also painted sea urchins, plumose anemones, proliferating/brooding anemones, orange social tunicates a sunflower sea star, ochre sea stars, painted anemones, a baby Puget Sound kingcrab and vermillion sea stars along the bottom.

Thank you for supporting my art and a cleaner Ocean. 10% of the proceeds from this buoy will be donated to Salmon Salmon Coast Field Station. To learn more visit: https://salmoncoast.org/

$500