Catch of the Day - Feb 15

Over the past couple of days, we learned that our accommodations are located in the middle of a underwater marine preserve, including the mangrove lagoon on which our villa is facing and about four miles of adjacent beach and coral reef. After a day of rest and site seeing yesterday, we ventured to Doctors Cave beach in downtown Montego Bay which falls within the preserve perimeter. About 100 yards offshore in about 15-20’ of water we found reefs resplendent with staghorn coral, among a variety of hard and soft corals, sponges, anemones and reef fish and animals. Here is today’s catch of the day.

The following images are attributed to Dylan Kerr.

Jamaica Day 2 - Catch of the Day

We investigated different parts of the bay including some shallow reefs and rock walls along the shoreline.  My son took over the camera and captured some great images of sea slugs and lionfish, of which we saw several. Pretty but really ruinous for the Caribbean reef system.

Today’s watercolor is a blend of several different references, capturing the general feel of the underwater environment just off the shore.

At the Edge of the Mangroves
Watercolor, 7x11

Jamaica - Catch of the Day

The water in Montego Bay is murky as the bay is bordered by a mangrove swamp so there is an abundance of life filtering food from the water. Here are some photos of a few of the animals we found as well as a watercolor capturing the edge of the mangroves.

Mangroves, Montego Bay
7 x 10, Watercolor

Recent Work

As 2022 comes to a close, I would like to share a handful of images from the various projects in which I've been involved this year. In addition to these projects, I taught an online class on painting underwater ecosystems which featured some of these pieces. 

All of these images were produced digitally, using a couple of different applications and a Wacom Cintiq stylus pad. 

Lake Ecology - Introduction

The images shown below were completed for an online course for Michigan State, teaching participants aspects of lake ecology and waterfront property usage. These illustrations are also being used for promotion purposes to show how exciting and varied freshwater ecosystems can be. All images copyright MSU, 2022. 

Exotic Invasive Aquatic Plats

The second set of illustrations, currently in process, are also being completed for MSU and are a continuation of a project begun in 2018. The goal of the project is to create images of invasive and native aquatic plant species for field identification purposes, to be used by the public for identification purposes as well as field volunteers and experts in the removal of invasive species. These are currently in process with an expected publication date in 2023. 

White Water Lily - Native to Michigan

Curly Leaf Pondweed - Invasive to Michigan

Today’s Dive Results

 Today’s photos are from Lower Herring Lake in Arcadia, MI. Depths ranged from 8-20’, with most of the “action” taking place around 12’ as there was a nice drop off with lots of vegetation and fish.

There are a number of wooden boxes on the bottom of the lake like those shown above. They served as floats when the lake was on an active logging camp in the late 1800s. The boxes were linked together using chains and iron straps tied to logs like this one here, to corral masses of logs together so they could be moved to ships moored at a long pier in nearby Lake Michigan. It’s amazing that these boxes are still holding up after more than 100 years. Notice the Walleye sitting on top of the box!

Wednesday at Watervale

 

Boo Hoo as viewed from the Duncan Deck. Watercolor and gouache on paper.

Catch of the Day - Lower Herring Lake

After a couple of days of rain, this is the first chance I’ve had to post any images from northern Michigan at Lower Herring Lake. These were taken this morning while snorkeling in front of our cottage to get a sense of the water clarity. It’s fun to be back in the water with a camera!

The settings for the following are a mixture of Auto and Manual settings, using a 20mm lens and dome port using ambient light and auto white balance. Depths ranged from 2-12 ft. Water temps were in the 70s all the way to the bottom!