Bodies of water

 

'Bodies of Water' 11x14" oil pastel;
Kathleen Faulkner

An atmospheric river arrives.

It is loud.

Its effects are mighty on the 

Skagit, Snohomish, Nooksack, Stillaguamish, Puyallup, and Cowletz rivers.

We see good action, movement, and some panic. 

There is a lot of destruction.

Further West is the Salish Sea. 

Deep below the surface, another reality.

Can you hear the silence?

Kelp Beds

Harbormaster Office,  LaConner Marina;  Kathleen Faulkner

I like a challenge.

I was offered a job opportunity: 

paint a mural on a post at the LaConner Marina.  

I gladly accepted.

It was a harder, longer process than I imagined

but I learned a lot.

I would do it again.

all photos: Kathleen Faulkner

Did you know?

'Indicator Species Series: Illuminated Kelp'
18 - 20" chain, 2 - 2.5" diameter discs
Neckpiece, sterling silver, paper, gouache,
watercolor, glass lenses;  Kathleen Faulkner



http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/kelp.html

A listen

'Rockweed' 18x18" oil pastel;  Kathleen Faulkner

I lean into the piling.  It is covered with a banquet of life: seaweed and kelp, barnacles, mussels and billions of creatures, right down to the most basic, who call this spot home.  I close my eyes and, with my ear close, listen to the sound of it: Water sounds, bubble sounds, scurries, tiny scratches,  the sound of an eagle, the lapping of water.

It is a city, a country, the world,  a universe.

Altered internet image; author unknown

Full Moon: Lunar Eclipse

'Animalia'  20'x various sizes, sterling silver, Kathleen Faulkner

We live in Paradise.

Saturday I walked along the shore at Washington Park. It was low tide.
 Living, breathing, the scents of ocean world
a whole universe that we usually take for granted.  

         the big trucks with their pleasure boats all lined up, waiting for the tide to come in

     while I wonder at the colors of the kelp, and textures.

The whales turn and glisten, plunge

and sound and rise again,

Hanging over subtly darkening deeps

Flowing like breathing planets 

in the sparkling whorls of

living light-

Gary Snyder from 'Turtle Island'