Yesterday, I had the pleasure of doing a live painting demonstration at the Mystic Aquarium during their second annual Women in Science Day. In addition to having a few of my paintings on display, including my Undersea series, I also had information about other female artist-naturalists and an interactive art board where passers-by drew jellies right along with me.

From my place in the main gallery, I had a view of the moon jellies, albeit from about 15 feet away.  I worked from live observation and memory of closeup details

The event ran from 10 AM – 2 PM, and there was a break for lunch, so not quite enough time to complete the works I started. The low level of light made it a bit of a challenge as well so these pieces will definitely be revisited before I would consider them complete.

The painting above is based on the magnificent South American Sea Nettle (Chrysaora plocamia), and you may notice that the arms of the jellyish are incomplete, as I only had time to paint one. I was absolutely captivated by the elaborate fractal patterns of the arms, and their translucency, which reminded me of tendrils of smoke. (For anyone wondering, yes I do mean arms, not tentacles! The tentacles are the narrower string-like appendages. Those interested can find a crash course on jelly anatomy here.)

I was able to take a number of reference photos for use in completing these two paintings as well as others. I can’t wait to do more in this series!

(Above: South American sea nettle, umbrella jellies, and comb jellies)