Stars over Strawberries, acrylic on canvas 12 by 16 inches. Looking up at the sky from the shallows of a BC ocean the sun streams in through teal green seawater, which refracts our vision of trees and the world above. Bat stars, strawberry anemones, kelp, sea urchins and a roughback sculpin fill a rock in the foreground that is already home to pink rock crust and barnacles.

Rays of sunlight stream into the Salish Sea as volumetric lighting that refracts our view of the sky and trees above water. This original acrylic painting uses sunbeams as it’s light source, which illuminate blue and red bat stars sharing a rock with red sea urchins.

The largest sea urchins in the world are found in the ocean waters of British Columbia, and these red urchins slowly move through this underwater seascape munching on pink rock crust and the rock itself with their 5 sharp teeth. I often use the bright red and sometimes purple spines of these urchins to infuse colour with unique shapes into an underwater artwork.