I've always loved the phenomenon that happens when something becomes important or focal in your life, and then suddenly you see it everywhere! This is happening for me with starfish, although there were premonitions beforehand. Two years ago I bought a small embroidered starfish pillow at Pottery Barn, as well as a starfish shaped bracelet at a little shop in Huntington Beach, CA. At the time I was attracted to the starfish as both a design and a statement of something beautiful in nature. I didn't know at the time that I would be doing paintings of starfish.

Since reading the articles about the wasting disease that is killing off the starfish, and the subsequent inspiration to do a couple of paintings, it seems that I am finding things that have starfish motifs or subjects in a lot of places. I have purchased another small starfish pillow from Pottery Barn...this one beaded. I have found another bracelet, a white enameled bangle with gold starfish scattered around it. I bought a linen shirt in white and blue that included starfish in the print. I found and read a young adult novel by Madeleine L'Engle entitled "The Arm of the Starfish", which is about the regenerative properties of starfish.

Everywhere I turn, I am finding starfish, and yet the real starfish are still dying in large numbers. As far as I know they have not found the reason, nor a way to stop it.

I finally finished my second painting, and on Thursday (Aug 7), I sent an email to the Librarian at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon. I was referred to her, and am hoping that she might be able to help me find a use for these paintings. I will keep you posted. For now, I hope you enjoy this second painting.