Bug

LOBSTER!!!!  folks get so excited over these ugly beasts.  I don't eat them, too strong a flavor to me.  This photo is from a year ago.

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I sometimes take a hotdog along on a dive to feed them, although lobsters are so scarce they aren't to be seen on every dive.  They love hotdogs, and Kentucky Fried Chicken, too.  haha

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One wonderful coral, and two sponges in this blue cast image.  The rest is overgrowing algae.  This photo I took at about sixty five feet deep, 20m, along the Salt River drop off; on a storebought tourist boat dive.  All the people in the group I was with swam right by this bug, and were too far ahead of me for me to get their attention.  I'm a slow poke.  See more that way.  My dive buddy?  It's called, "Same Ocean, Same Day" buddy diving.

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My little SeaLife camera died, so I am forced to order a part for my expensive Canon.  Then  I'll get excited about painting for you once I can dive with a camera again.  Seeing that Jackknife fish, and not being able to capture an image was...  deflating or something.  Right now, I'm looking out a window at a stupid yard that needs mowing.  Such a waste of time and carbon!!

Same dive, another bug that only I saw.  They wave their long antennae at you.  I can't imagine them saying more than, "Huh?  Duh?"  Or sometimes, "Eeeek!!"

Messy Blog

I had intended to join the One Painting Every Day movement.  I have lots of little canvasses waiting.  So, perhaps I'll quit hurricane cleanup and get back to painting.  My house has electricity, hooray! Six days without, but lots of people still don't have power.  Our lives are so fragile, depending so much on electricity!

This is a bit of scenery that I like.  The tall things are sponges of different types.  Out of the sea, and into air daylight, they'd be purplish grays and bright 'red wine' colors.   Let's look closely at some parts of this photo.

The orange octopus volcano sponge in the middle is-- orange. And the little fish, a Wrass, is bright yellow.

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The brightest colors one sees on the reef, here in the Caribbean, are the colors of the fish.  Perhaps they're basically a little silvery under the reds and yellows, so they reflect more light?  If you dive deep, a red sponge looks black, but a red fish still looks red.  That's a Blue Head Wrass.

For a painting of this place, I'd have to change something about those sponges running up off the image.  They cut the upper half in two too much.  Maybe.

I need to go back here and see what's off in the distance, a whole two hundred feet beyond here.  Not just a blue void!  Snapper back there running away from me, believing I could have a speargun.  Fish behave much differently in places where there's no spearing allowed.

Great Star coral down in front(not a plateful of olives).  A wavy sponge, and three Mustard Hill corals beside the orange sponge.  Oh, and a purple rope sponge on the left.  And a few other animals.  None of these thingies are plants, you know!

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I guess this photo is too complicated to use for a little painting, hey?  LOL
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But the dive shop still doen't have electricity after the hurricane, and my tanks are empty.  Boo.  Maybe I can find one to rent---  And I'm back online at home with my computer full of photos, so at least I can post some underwater images of some kind for you.

Another sandy dive---

A quick sketch from memory of a little four inch, ten cm, Jackknife Fish. It-he-she was swimming around just a short way from the safety of a lone coral head that is out in an open sandy area, out of sight of any other coral. He-it-she was nosing in the sand, looking for some tidbit to eat.

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Hmm, looking at the sketch now, a painting would have the coral higher to push it more into the background. The fish looks a lot larger than she-he-it is.

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The dive yesterday was odd. I join all sorts of online sites, just recently one about dive buddies. All of them seem to be in Nevada or Missouri or someplace! But, last week I got an email from a man here on St Croix, saying, "I just love to dive!" We agreed to meet at Cane Bay Beach for a dive.

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I should have known, well, I sort of did ... he was wearing gloves. He just wanted to hunt for lobster. At the end of the dive, he got out of the water before me and waited on the boat ramp. I was poking along looking for what beach goers lose in three feet of water, watches, jewelry, money... When I took off my fins, and started walking toward the ramp, the man turned without saying anything, and started walking to the nearby dive shop where he'd rented his tank.

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I went to my car, and took off my gear and stowed it, not needing to go to the dive shop. I waited about three minutes to see if the guy would reappear, but then figured he was gone, so I came home. Should I apologize for ruining his dive??

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My dive was really good, tho'! I don't usually go half that far in one dive. A big, lone Horse Eye Jack swam by, there were Southern Rays all over the place, must have seen five or six. And now I know where to find a Jackknife fish, and will go back for photos as soon as I sort out a camera. Actually, there were two on that little coral head. I know the area so well that I can go right to it. Oboy!

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Thanks for stopping by!

no coral, not a painting

I like to swim over the open sand sometimes. Different critters there. I'm fairly sure this is a Spotted Trunkfish, I don't have my books at hand at the moment. These guys go about the sand puffing holes, puff-puff-puff, trying to find whatever that can to eat. There are a lot of worms, crabs, and other things that live on and just below the surface.

Funny fish, their bottom side is flat, and their sides are flat, too. If you cut one in two, whack! with a machete, you'd find that they're shape is triangular.

Oh, No!

I just bought a house. it's SO UGLY!!!! hahaha. Built in 1972, and needs everything. I need a plumber, electrician, roofer, chainsaw guy, backhoe guy, driveway builder(Gigantic rut, the driveway),,,, new floors, new screens, new kitchen, new tiles, ------help!!!!
If you squint real hard, you can see the Sea miles away. The unimproved road requires a 4WD. Waaaaa, I'd rather be painting, why'd I get myself into a remodelling job??? I wish I had a million dollars for a waterfront place, or more like a million five. Cheap here, compared to the other Virgins.

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The sea has been very rough lately, big surf generated by a far off storm in the Atlantic. I went for a cameraless dive today, but would have taken only five or ten photos. Can't find the camera, it's buried in all my junk someplace. I need a housekeeper.

Poor me! wwaaaaaa

There are un-photographical jiggling white specks making the sea downright cloudy, like fine snowflakes, or white fog.. I believe they're itty bitty critters called copepods. Carl Sagan didn't have any idea of big numbers! He didn't see these critters in the sea. If you go diving, and think the sand is stirred up, look more closely, and you might just see jiggling specks. The little boogies on the reef with tiny mouths are stuffing themselves, for sure. I guess. OK, now go back to the top, and see if, in the dark areas, you can find little white specks. But they don't jiggle in a photo, and I don't know how to move that photo down here where it's relavant. Eeek! All for now, and, once again, thanks for stopping by!

Worry Painting

Detail, "Worry Painting"

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"Worry Painting" 10x8 inches, 22x25 cm, oil on canvas

Been watching my stock portfolio too closely lately. And reading a doom book about how the Arabs are running out of oil. I am too far from friends and only have one brother. Owell, here is for painting, not groaning, and not for my astract paintings, either. Just bought a house that's going to be a pain, needs a LOT of work! Everyone I tell is so happy for me. I'm not fearful, what is the word? Strange weather coming in this morning. Ah! But I HAVE been painting, just not in a disciplined way. Sure wish I could hear music. Poor poor me! I'll delete this post in a week or so...

Thanks for being a shoulder for me to cry on.

Splat.

Another Friday's quickie with the Ladies. I'm not a very good member of this plein aire group, I always show up late, and run away early. I did have lunch with them in a little cafe, only five beides me this time. I couldn't hear anything anyone said. Being nearly deaf is really boring!

The painting is shiney acrylic, and is supposed to be a little plant in a pot close up, with a stone arch holding a bell in the background. We were painting around the grounds of one of the old sugar etates here on the Island, very charming places, with lots of old stonework and huge old trees. I do this for comic relief from the extreme realism of coral paintings.

Something coral tomorrow or the next day. I need to work on this blog, add some features, and post more often!!! Thanks for stopping by!