Research for undersea project

These aren’t finished – they’re just night time thoughts that will come together somehow into prints, later.  I like putting them online because then I can look at my ideas from my phone.  Love that phone.

Seaweed interpretations

Other things

Radiolaria, foraminifera, sessile invertebrates and more primordial soup under the sea

Radiolaria

The forminiferal ooze!  (Here’s a full illustrated  catalogue of forminiera: http://www.foraminifera.eu/ )

What are Radiolaria and Foraminifera?

•  Amoeba-like single-celled microscopic organisms
• Produce intricate mineral shells or skeletons
• Live in environments that contain liquid water e.g. in the ocean, inside the body
• Usually less than 1 mm in size
• Their structures are made of natural glass http://www.cmog.org/article/glass-nature
• Belong to the group “Rhizaria”.

There are three main groups of Rhizaria:^[4]

• Cercozoa – Various amoebae and flagellates, usually with filose pseudopods and common in soil
• Foraminifera – Amoeboids with reticulose pseudopods, common as marine benthos
• Radiolaria – Amoeboids with axopods, common as marine plankton

Sessile invertebrates

These are animals without backbones that can be attached to a reef, like corals, barnacles, sponges and aenemones.

My work is influenced by impressions of these deep sea forms.  The microworld of the sea fascinates me.  I want to invoke natural colours and forms.  I derive inspiration from marine biology, mycology. I love looking intently at the detailed morphology of lichens, fungi and microscopic marine organisms.  The more I look at their detail, the more beautiful they seem.

Here’s some of my recent explorations: