Sustained Investigation #14

Artist Statement:

To create this project, I first had to collect the materials. While in Florida, I went to Cocoa Beach, and at the beach, I had the idea to collect seashells for an art project. I knew I wanted to use the shells either to create a form or to use as a surface. Eventually, I settled on the idea of using them as a surface and painting tiny sea creatures on top of the shells. 

My primary material for this project was seashells, which I collected myself. These accomplished the goal of material synthesis, as well as texture. On top of the shells, I painted with acrylic paint. I was rather limited in my color palette, as the only paint I had available was from a color by number. After the painting, I finished with a Sharpie marker. 

I started off with the seashells, choosing the ones I thought would be easiest to paint on, and glued them onto a wooden board, making sure to vary them by size and texture as well. When I began painting on the seashells, I originally had the idea to only do shelled sea creatures. However, I eventually changed this to creatures you might find in tide pools and even some outside of that. Especially later in the process, I focused on tide pools, which contain lots of small sea life.