Whale Watching
Last Saturday I went down to Monterey with a couple of my friends for a whale watching tour out on the bay. It was my first time on a boat that wasn't a commuter ferry, so experiencing the late afternoon waves and swells was exciting. It had been very warm in inland, but it got colder as we got farther out onto the water, mostly because the boat was moving at a fast clip and it was extremely windy. I had brought a snowboarding jacket with a fleece lining and a wool hat, and definitely needed them!
We didn't see any whales (late summer isn't an ideal time to spot them, and apparently this year there hadn't been as many sighted in the bay anyway), but there were thousands of jellyfish just below the surface of the water. Most of them were sea nettles, which were a striking bright orange-yellow against the teal waters. It was kind of frightening to imagine that if our boat capsized or sank...we'd be in these cold waters literally swarming with large, stinging jellyfish. We saw a large pod of Risso's dolphins out in the bay, and then a pod of bottlenose dolphins when we were returning to the pier. I've seen dolphins at aquariums before, but I had no idea how excited I'd be to see them out in the wild. I was gasping and shouting every time I spotted one. Another amazing sight back at the pier was a massive flock of shearwaters and gulls and pelicans, all gathering in a feeding frenzy.
Since we didn't see any whales, we were given free tickets for another trip! I really just enjoyed the boat ride and vbeing out on the water, so I'm definitely looking forward to doing it again.
I decided to paint a page in my travel journal for the whale watching trip - two hours away counts as travel!
It was a busy week for graphic design work, and progress continues on the Dia de los Muertos poster. Here's a sketch that will be on the poster - a girl in calaca costume on a trapeze!
And I've finally updated my Etsy shop with prints of three 'new' art nouveau insects. The paintings were actually made a few years ago, but I hadn't had an opportunity to have prints made of them and I sort of forgot about them! Now that I'm making my own prints, I'm trying to go through my hard drive(s) and see what forgotten and neglected art is lingering there.
I'm having a special sale on the three new insect prints through the end of October! Purchase any number of them and use the coupon code INSECT and I'll take 10% off of your total order. OR if you order the full set of the other art nouveau insects I'll include your choice of one of the new insect prints for free! Be sure to use the coupon code when you place your order! (Please choose one option or the other - discount or free print. Offers cannot be combined)
