This piece is of my most preferred of all the paintings I have ever created. I am in love with the ocean and feel a direct connection with it. I feel I have a responsibility to be an advocate for the ocean and my paintings are a voice from the sea, one I hope the viewer feels as well as sees.

I had been kayaking Gwaii Haanas National Park when I saw over and again an imbalance in the ecosystem there. There were too many urchin, their population exploding without natural predators such as sea otters to feed on them. This mass feeding effectively clear cuts the ocean forests, with no tether to the sea floor the kelp forests simply float away leaving no safe haven for juvenile fish, such as salmon. 

The health of the kelp forests directly effects the whole ecosystem.

When immersed I was the observer, watching the grace of those tethered dancers, bejeweled gold fronds flowing, alight upon invisible currents in a sea of teal, the young fish dark silhouettes, the sun casting beams down in to the depths.

In the shelter of those reaching kelp were the the generations of the future, darting here and there, mirroring the sway of those protective plants, the kelp a sanctuary from the harsh realities of survival.

It was mesmerizing to see the beauty of the individual parts that make the living whole of that underwater universe.