When I asked my granddaughter Rahael for the subject of her choice she said "Tide pools" without hesitation. She had so many joyous memories of picnics on the California coast, of wading in tide pools, of having her finger gently nipped by a sea anemone.

 

I started reading up on the subject and looking at images. They were all rather brown and dreary looking and not my kind of colors. But the rocks were encrusted (a lovely word for a textile artist), barnacled, algaed, and the life which had evolved in these so amazingly suited for the vagaries of tide and environment. I started with the rocks – handmade, embroidered, felted, beaded and stuffed – and each one became a miniature landscape. Hardly like a real rock, but I was hooked. A whole bag of rocks needed many pools and so my scene became a series of interlinked pools. Rahael's only request was the inclusion of a sea lion and so he sits surveying the scene. I loved working on this piece and again I learnt a lot. Thank you, Rahael.