chocolate chip

"chocolate chip"
18"x24"

my sister recently showed an interest in giving painting a try.  she's a big beach bum who collects sharks teeth, seashells, seaglass, etc. so she started a mermaid painting that she plans to attach some of her beach treasures to. i've had bags of shells, sand, (among TONS of other random objects) in drawers in my art room that i've been waiting to use for different artwork.  i decided to paint this for my sister, with these special little add-ons.... maybe one or two days before christmas.  not bad for a really fast, super last minute painting, yes? no?   

my favorite part is the starfish in her hair.  this dried-out starfish was actually a pet of mine at one point.   his name was keebler. i used to have several large fish tanks, full of adorable pufferfish and beautiful triggerfish.  i still have my dearest clownfish who shared the tank with this chocolate chip starfish years and years ago. unfortunately, at the time i did not do my research, bought hundreds of dollars worth of sea creatures, only to have this evil little starfish eat most of it, including a really neat sea urchin. oops.