Blue Lantern Studio - The Voice of the Sea

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	Blue Lantern Studio is located at 1218 East Pender Street in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada) The paintings below are part of my exhibition, The Voice of the Sea, on view at Place des Arts in Coquitlam (BC) from January 13 to February 5, 2011. All of the fish in the paintings have, at one time or another, been caught in the North Eastern Pacific Ocean. Some, like the quill fish or the rough-scaled grenadier, are less commonly known than others such as salmon and rockfish. The outlines of plastic bottles and the tiny blue circles represent the enormous problem of plastic garbage ending up in the ocean, which never biodegrades but rather breaks down into tinier and tinier pieces. These, in turn, are eaten by fish who mistake them for plankton. The orange outlines of dinosaurs falling into the ocean represent carbon from fossil fuels that is absorbed into the ocean, resulting in increased acidity. The latter is represented by the red and orange in the water. In all my work, I draw the viewer’s attention to the beauty of the natural world first. As you look more closely, other concerns come into consciousness. I remain hopeful that through increased awareness of the natural world and the impacts we have our local and global ecosystems, we can find ways to live that protect and support biodiversity.
	Orange rockfish (2010) Acrylic on canvas, 36" x 24" sold	Orange rockfish are fairly common along the BC coast, with young fish along the shore and adult fish in deeper waters. Over fishing and bottom trawling threaten all rockfish, who are long-lived and late to mature. This particular rockfish is concerned about threats to coastal habitat from humans and industry.
	Capelin (2010) Acrylic on canvas, 24" x 12" $750	Capelins are ocean-dwelling fish who return once per year to the sandy coastal shorelines, at night and at highest tide, to spawn. The sticky eggs cling to coarse grains of sand and are slowly buried deeper into the sand by the movement of the waves of the ebbing tide. Thousands of eggs deposited by each female fish hatch within 2 weeks.
	Rough-scaled Grenadier (2010) Acrylic on canvas, 18" x 24" $1100	Grenadiers are deep water fishes. The rough scaled grenadier ranges from Southern California to northwestern Alaska. It grows to about 2.5 feet long.
	Three-spined stickleback (2010) Acrylic on canvas, 24" x 36" $2200	The three-spined stickleback grows to about 4 inches long and spends its time in small schools swimming in eel-grass. It occurs in both fresh and sea water. In freshwater, the males construct elaborate nests for the females to spawn in, and then guard the nest and eggs until the fry are able to fend for themselves.
	Salmon Migration (2010) Acrylic on canvas, 36" x 48" $4300	The characters in this migration are young Chinook salmon heading out to sea for the first time, with adult Chinook heading back to coastal rivers and streams to spawn. The adult Chinook are led by a King of the Salmon, who is believed by the Makah people to bring them home. All are met by water warmed by carbon from fossil fuels and plastic bottles migrating out to sea.

	Herring (2010) Acrylic on canvas, 24" x 36" $2200	Once abundant on the BC coast, herring feed almost the entire range of marine animals. The eggs are eaten by fish and seabirds, the larvae by jellyfish and crustaceans, the larger fish by sharks, other fish, seabirds, seals and sea lions. But who will eat the plastic bottles?
	Quill fish (2010) Acrylic on canvas, 18" x 24" $1100	Not much is known about the daytime habits of the quill fish, though it’s speculated that it burrows into the sandy or muddy ocean floor. At night it swims snakily to the surface, attracted by the lights of fishing boats. Quill fish range all along the BC coast and as far north as Alaska.

	Coho (2009) Acrylic on canvas, 20" x 24" $1200	Wild coho salmon have traditionally ranged from northern California to northwestern Alaska. They spend the first year or more in freshwater, then migrate out to sea for their adult lives before returning up rivers to streams to spawn. This coho is noticing the effects of global warming.
	Big-eyed lantern fish (2008) Acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20" $800	The very small big-eyed lantern-fish ranges from Washington State to Alaska. Its body is lined with photophores to light its way. Big-eyed lantern fish eat plankton (or tiny bits of degraded plastic which they mistake for food).

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