Over the course of the last few months I have been working on a collection of pieces that focus on animals. Not just animals as they are in nature, but fantastical animals.

I tend to want to challenge myself so, I’m not always successful but that’s okay. All part of the learning process. But these animal depictions are a reflections of what I feel when I think about the spirit of the animals and how it reflects aspects of myself. I also feel a sort of mystical wisdom that’s hidden behind their eyes. A trove of knowledge and experience that we as humans will never know. Nor will we know how those experiences have changed them.

I think it’s like when we see a shark on the Discovery Channel and notice all of the scars and scratches etched into its toughened skin – we get a piece of their lives. But it’s only a small piece. A fragment of a larger complex and colorful life.

I was recently dragged to the San Diego Zoo with my family. I can get anxious around family (and too many people) and so at one point I snuck away from the crowd and wandered a little while they took a snack break. I noticed a mostly empty gift shop with a basket in front of it full of sea turtles and sharks and other plush creatures begging to be picked up and cuddled.

While I walked around the rest of the store, I noticed a dark space at the back of the shop. I walked towards it and found myself inside a manufactured cave-like tunnel that was connected to the gift shop. Inside the space it was cold and dark except for one area.

Deep into the tunnel, there was a big glass wall filled with sea life casually floating in and out of view. To my delight, there were sea turtles swimming gingerly across the glass. The softness of their movements immediately captured me. I pulled out my camera and filmed a bit of their flight path through the water while I grinned ear to ear.

The video didn’t quite capture the magic I felt in that moment as the rest of the world faded away. So I did some light editing and created a more dream-like sequence complete with some gentle music; a 15 second slice of the ethereal realm I felt.

It’s no surprise that this experience was also the inspiration for my latest piece. In my new artwork, I depict a sea turtle, traversing the bottom of a coral reef. Light streams in from up above. The turtle’s shell glows with magical runes.

I often use runes or some variation of a fake fantasy written language in my pieces. I feel like it symbolizes the way animals communicate, something humans seldom understand. Much of it is body language, instinct, and heightened senses. Their way of communicating is literally encoded in their DNA as natural as breathing. Animals seem to say so much, with so little. It feels like magic to me.

You’ll also notice the scarring and missing left eye. This is an ongoing motif in my artwork. I endured some abuse as as a child and when I create my animals with scars and imperfection it reminds me that even scarred and damaged life, can be beautiful, if not even more exquisite.

I don’t know how many pieces I will add to this collection but I like to think that each one represents an aspect of myself. In “Tyger, Tyger”, behind my daily facade of warm smiles and kindness, I sense this dark part of myself. She stares out into the world with much more scrutiny. She judges, defends or protects, and looks for opportunities to pounce. She collects her victims bones around her neck like trophies, a warning to those who might attempt to harm her.

With the turtle, a reflection of the journey I’ve been through over the past few years. The wisdom I’ve gained leading to a more gentle interaction with the world. No doubt, the next piece I work on will also reflect another part of myself while on the path I’m walking and I can’t wait to see what comes next.