Out of the Depths
Row after row, jar after jar: 55,000 containers representing 800,000 specimens and 7,600 species from the world’s oceans lay in front of me. Like a kid in a candy store, I had to choose. Giant crabs, exquisite sea stars, ghostly squid, mollusk shells of all sizes and stripes—these creatures without a backbone make up the Benthic Invertebrate Collection at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. On a recent trip to Southern California, I arranged to spend a few hours sketching there, and what an amazing opportunity it was. After roaming several rows of otherworldly organisms, I decided to focus on octopuses. Admittedly, there is something slightly grotesque about dead sea creatures preserved in jars of alcohol, but that is countered by the their continued magnificence, the wonder of studying them firsthand, and the challenge of giving them a new life on paper.
New class: Registration is open for Painting the Colors of Spring beginning March 28, online at Winslow Art Center.
Drawn In 
Your work brings beauty to the most unusual creatures!
Thank you. You could also say that these unusual creatures bring such beauty to me!
Now my favorite art teacher has given life on paper to my favorite undersea creature! Sy Montgomery’s book The Spirit of the Octopus has been my gift to friends and family for years, and I can never select these intelligent creatures off a menu. Thank you Jean!
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Sue- They really are amazing and I was so privileged to spend several hours studying and drawing them up close. I may do a larger piece based on the specimens. But first, I’m working on a very intricate basket star. I’ve got to look up The Spirit of the Octopus. I can’t remember whether I’ve read it.
Jean those are great and what a wonderful place to draw, but kind of overwhelming! Scripps is a wonderful place with so much historical information, and the researchers are really dedicated to their work and never want to leave.
Yes, kind of overwhelming to choose from so many things with only a few hours to work. The staff was wonderful– very accommodating– I could see you making a field trip back…and never wanting to leave. What was your field of research?
Jean, what a wonderful experience! I would love for you to consider teaching a class on painting an octopus.
Hi Peggy- That would be fun, but it would be a much better class to do in person with specimens. The arms are complicated and I’m not sure I’d have a good reference photo. I’m going to do a class this summer focused on ocean creatures, so I’ll consider it.
Hi Jean
I took one of your classes through the Winslow Art Center, online, and you gave each of us a page with databases that have scientific images and photos that you use for your drawing. (Which I find amazing, by the way!) I wonder if you might email me a copy? I have lost mine.
Thank you for this, and for being such an inspiration!
Barbara Sibbald Victoria, BC
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div dir=”ltr”>You might like the book I just read called The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery. Starts a litt
Thanks Cathleen- I’m going to look for that.
What an interesting treatment of an unusual creature. I love the texture on the ochre head, the detailed suckers and your choice of colours to differentiate them. (Or are those the actual colours of the octopi?) Your work is always stunning!
Thanks so much! As you likely know, an octopus can change its colors in a flash when alive, but the preserved specimens I saw ranged from mostly from tan to brown to reddish. I used the same palette for each of these three but changed the lead color in the mix to bring out differences. I’d like to do another one, only make it larger more dramatic.
Really fascinating, Jean, first, that you would choose to do this on your SoCal vacation and second, the illustration itself. Of course I shouldn’t be surprised after all the time you’ve spent in other museums with bird nests, etc. But still. It’s very cool. 🙂 It’s kind of sad to see their tentacles all bunched up like that…the palette is wonderful…the composition is, too…
Well, I’m glad you went to your version of the candy store and shared the results here!