Tried drawing a Sepioteuthis last night and despite the 2 attempts, both ended up looking like truck nuts to me. There are other issues with proportion and all that, but whatever, it's practice. They really do look bulby on the bottom like that sometimes.
2024, hand bleached and dyed denim, cotton batting and thread
inspired by blackwater photography of plankton! this was my first time layering bleach painting. All the silhouettes were painted with bleaching gel, loosely tie dyed, and then bleached again to make the highlights. I quilted the piece using my free motion foot to outline each individual animal and tacked down the rest of the quilt with small satin stitches that remind me of marine snow. I dyed bias tape to match. super happy with this one and excited to show it in a gallery setting soon!
One weirdly specific interest I have is Japanese Sea Creature merchandise. Anyone wanna buy me a Coelacanth Soy sauce bottle. An Isopod Keychain. A squid backpack light. A fishy squishy. Please
For decades, marine biologists assumed that all squids laid their eggs in clusters on the seafloor, where the eggs developed and hatched without any help from their parents. However, MBARI scientists discovered that some female deep-sea squid, like this Gonatus onyx, brood their eggs by carrying them between their arms until the young hatch and swim away.
Gonatus females will have approximately 2,000 to 3,000 eggs in a sheath between their arms for as long as nine months. During this time they are unable to feed and must rely on stored fats from previous meals. This observation of the first known parental care behavior by squid was also an important discovery made possible by the use of MBARI’s remotely operated vehicles.
To bring squid facts to you. To your friends. To your neighbors. To some random dude named Brad who you've never met.
How? The Squid Facts Project. It's a street art campaign and hotline that texts folks squid facts!
Only snag in this hair-brained plan is that texting people is kiiinda expensive. So! I teamed up with Philly artist Corey Danks to sell shirts to keep the hotline running. Every one of those shirt dollars helps deliver squid facts to people.
Like, over 70,000 people over the last year!!! Isn't that wild?
So anyway. Get a shirt. They're cool, *and* they keep people learning about squid. It's a beautiful thing.
Also, the backs have the squid facts hotline on them so by wearing these you're helping people learn about squid too.
If you can't buy one, give us a reblog. I run a small science education nonprofit called Skype a Scientist, we're scrappy but trying so hard!!