I am very pleased with this as it hangs, gallery-wrapped in gray felt, on the wall; however, I am not at all pleased with the photographs I have taken of it thus far. They are flat and dull by comparison with the work itself. The problem, I suspect, is that I have been trying to photograph this, and other large pieces, on the wall in natural daylight. (Natural light indoors is great for the eye, bad for the camera.) Giant Sea Dream measures 28 x 18not enormous, but large enough to read across a room, and too big for my light box. Time to come up with a new strategy Even with controlled studio lighting, though, it will be difficult to capture one of the elements that makes this medium so beautiful: the fibers catch the light differently throughout a day, creating subtle changes in color and mood.
From safe distance, the sea nettles, or jellyfish, are peerless in their graceful movement through time and water. They float with the current, gently brushing against each other, their tendrils twining and untangling in the light that filters through the water. But like most beauty, theirs is also dangerous. These mysterious creatures, genus Chrysaora, kingdom Animalia, sting and paralyze and digest that which they touch. And yet we desire beauty, we want to touch and to become that which reminds us how much more we could be, or what we are not.