Nautilus

I spent some time (about two years) in the Phillipines with my parents. I have wonderful memories from there that are very vivid and still influence my artwork today. I have a great love of the sea as a result of this trip overseas because we spent many happy hours there. I remember most of all the dive trips my parents took along with our naval friends after riding for some time on the Air Forces dark blue bus from the base. It had no air conditioning and the trips were uncomfortable because the bus seemed to have virtually no shocks to speak of. We would spend long days there at the beach, with my parents sometimes going on night dives. ( My mother ceased this practice though, she did'nt like not seeing the sharks in the dark until they loomed upon her in the gloom and inky blackness.) My parents became quite the shell collectors, bringing home a vast collection of beautiful shells that were carefully placed in the ant bed near our house. The ants did a great job of cleaning the shell of all the animals left inside leaving the "doors" that some of the shells had. My parents carefully identified them and they may still have these meticulously hand printed labels taped to their undersides. The Nautilus was one of these shells I think (the box is still in the attic and some day I will find them to put them back on display) Nautilus creatures are quite the most beautiful and most ugly at the same time. They evoke in me a certain creepiness that comes from 20,000 leagues under the sea. "Nautilus" 12x12 acrylic on canva $85.00