Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Sea monster vase


            This is a vase I've been working on. It's for a show in May at the Deer Isle Artists Association gallery. The show is being held alongside the Deer Isle birding celebration, "Wings, Waves, and Woods." I know, sea monsters aren't birds. But they swim in the waves! That counts as habitat-related, right? Especially since Deer Isle is, well, surrounded by water.
            I'm having a lot of fun thinking of subjects to carve on vases based on this theme. I've got a vase with pine trees and a big serpent-dragon, and a vase with fiddlehead ferns and tiny dragons - woods and wings! - in addition to the sea monster vase in this post. I'm considering actually carving a bird vase (gasp! a real animal that actually exists?!), but I don't have a design in mind. 
            Back to the vase above: The boat on the sea monster's back is the Leucothea. Leucothea was a Greek goddess of the sea, who was known for rescuing sailors. Here she has tamed the sea monster, which story is my own invention as far as I know.

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