"The big world of small"

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Our last evening in Bamfield we had a lab looking at plankton under a microscope; I was blown away by the beauty of these tiny creatures that came alive under the microscopic gaze. The following pictures and words are from a fabulous website calle Image Quest 3D. Please go there to see hundred's of fantastic images and articles. They will sweep you away.

Photos/ Image Quest 3D photo

Image-Quest 3D  website has the following to say about plankton:

 "The word plankton means, “that which drifts”. By this token a colossal number of marine creatures, both plants and animals, vertebrates and invertebrates, qualify as members of this extraordinarily important mass of life that glides and wanders, flaps and flips, floats and flies, sinks and swims within the oceans. The very biggest jellyfish weigh more than half a tonne, some deep sea relatives of the Portuguese Man-O-War would cover a football pitch and some of the colonial salps are the size and shape of ballistic missiles.

Much of plankton is small. Diminutive though these forms are in size, their habits, colour, life cycles and relationships are some of the most bizarre in the animal kingdom and many billions directly comprise the staple diet of the ocean’s very largest inhabitants."

Phytoplankton

"This resource is much more important for the survival of this planet than all the rainforests and prairies put together. The microscopic plants of the sunlit surface waters of the oceans capture more oxygen than all other life forms. These are the organisms most likely to be affected by global warming, climate change and man’s indiscriminate and careless pollution of the oceans. Not only are they incredibly important, they are miracles of design and structure. Victorian microscopists recognised this and converted millions into microscope slides. Those illustrated in image number two are just such an example. Many of the colours are structural - like oil on water. All images are approximately x15,000." 

Content from Image Quest 3D.

Sketches from Bamfield

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We were so busy while at Bamfield moving from one activity to another that there really wasn't much time for doing art. I managed to get the following sketches done. I have tons of photos for ideas.

Click on this link to see a more detail version of this trip, sketches and sketch books. 

Quick pencil sketch of a Copper Rock Fish from the Aquarium in The Rix Centre. I painted the background later at home using a techinque that Mark Hobson demonstrated for us.

Quick Sketches from the invertebrate tank in the Whale Lab

Quick Sketches from the invertebrate tank in the Whale Lab

Algal Art - Pressed seaweeds

Pressed seaweeds

Pressed seaweeds

Pressed seaweeds

Pressed seaweeds

Algal Art

We had a really good lecture on seaweeds by the Bamfield Marince Sciences Centre Public Education Coordinator Anne Stewart. Anne's team had gathered dozens of examples of seaweed for us to look at which were displayed in water-filled glass dishes. Anne described how to make "Algal Art":  select pieces of seaweed, lay those on top of a piece of wet paper that has a fibre content that is low in acidity and high in absorbency. Lay this in a press to dry flat. Heavy duty wax paper was laid over top of the piece and then placed between many sheets of newspaper, j-cloths and cardboard. This takes several days to dry.

Mark Hobson

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A lecture and demonstration by Mark Hobson was the main event for the first evening of our artist retreat. Mark gave a talk on his early life teaching science at Shawnigan Lake School and how he got to painting full-time and living in Tofino, BC on a float home. Mark gave a great demonstration on mixing ocean blue-greens and advice on how to paint underwater scenes especially of seaweeds. Our big group of 44 was divided into 4 groups and I was lucky enough to have Mark in our group. Mark is full of joy and he happily shared his knowledge of the natural world. He is a really nice person with a big heart, who was always jolly -- he was a lot of fun to be around. 

On our way to Grappler Inlet

Mark Hobson is based in Tofino BC., on the outer west coast of Vancouver Island where he has painted for over twenty years. A diverse artist in both subject and media, he is equally comfortable in watercolour, oils, and acrylics. Mark is best known for his passionate portrayals of the B.C. coast, from pounding surf to sheltered cove; from rainforests to the underwater realm. The richness of the natural environment and its wildlife comes alive in his work. Professionally trained as a biologist, he taught high school science for nine years before painting as a career. Self-taught as an artist, his paintings are simultaneously accurate and sensitive depictions of the many moods of wilderness and rural landscapes.

Mark painting in the Rix Centre

Mark painting in the Rix Centre

Mark Hobson "Green Point Rocks: Long Beach"

Mark Hobson "Green Point Rocks: Long Beach"

Mark Hobson "China Rockfish"

Mark Hobson "China Rockfish"

Mark Hobson "Sea Otters Return"

Mark Hobson "Sea Otters Return"

  

 

  

Out to sea

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 The M/V Alta was built in 1981-82 by Little Hoquiam Shipyards, WA. The Alta operates bottom trawls, dredges and hydrographic instrumentation, has a range of 600+ nautical miles and a running speed of 9.5 knots. Maximum capacity is 12 passengers plus crew.

We spent an hour and a half on the M/V Alta out in open water cruising around the group of Deer Islands. There's Jeanne again.

Onboard the M/V Alta

Onboard the M/V Alta

The captain did an open ocean sampling, the dredge brings up a big bucket of what looks like sand and broken shell and dumps it in a big container. After our instructor Anne Stewart added ocean water she then separated things and found all these treasures which she put in the yellow dish pan. What delighted us the most was a little tiny baby octupus about two inches long. The beige coloured octupus darted around madly and squirted ink a couple of times; Anne immediately scooped the toxic ink out of the yellow container. The little octupus found refuge on top of the big star fish and went from beige to red and crumpled itself down into a little mass shape that looked like worms in order to disguise itself. Here it is on the side of the dish pan still in it's red colour. looking for a corner to hide.