No wonder I have such a good time working on marine animal jewelry designs. I live in a place where on any given day a marine animal sighting is possible within a few miles of my studio. However, since most of my time is spent in that aforementioned studio, the sightings are unfortunately rather rare. To me, all marine mammals have a very special grace and beauty. When I lived in Marin County in Northern California, the marine mammals I was most familiar with were otters and sea lions. I’ll never forget those piles of honking (and rather fragrant) sea lions near Fisherman’s Wharf. I liked that they were just part of the environment, and not, at least to my knowledge, considered much of a nuisance. I loved to go to the aquarium in Monterey, near where we lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains. There were sea otters there, swimming happily in surrealistic giant kelp forests, as well as a host of other marine animals. My favorites were the ethereal jellyfish with impossibly delicate built in lights, as well as giant tanks full of all the fish and plants common to the area. I’m lucky to live near the water here in Florida as well, even if it’s only to watch an occasional blue heron stab his snake-like neck into the water and emerge with a prize fish, one little indication of all that goes on below the surface. There are endless marine animal jewelry possibilities in the future, so I better get busy so I can “buy” myself some time to design them! |