Page 35 - 2003 - Atlantic Islands

She also packed the natural orifices of the fish before painting it with India ink from

tail fins to head features, taking care not to go too far down the back and belly of the

creature. Next, she placed “rice paper,” really made of mulberry bark, carefully and

firmly over the fish body. The trick was not to allow the paper to slip as she put

pressure on the body through the paper so that it would take up the ink. She

produced three prints that look like Japanese paintings - really quite charming. Then

she invited us to come up and “print” our own copies of the fish body. With each

successive painting, the results of the prints were better since the paper had

sufficient ink to absorb after the fish body had taken in all the ink it could. Kay made

about the 6th copy and hers was really fine. The detail of the lovely dorsal fin was

exquisite as was the scale pattern on the body of the fish.

MJ also taught everyone how to “finish” the print by painting in the eye which looks

“empty” after the paper pressure. Using blue watercolor, a ring was drawn around

the outside circumference of the eye socket and then a dark pupil with a “V-shaped”

notch of white in that circle was placed in the center of the blue ring. It was amazing

how much more “alive” the print appeared when the eye was put into the picture.

Other activities of the day included reading, exercising, stretching, dining, and having

afternoon tea. A lovely, relaxing and totally enjoyable day on the Orion. Tonight we

plan to watch the third episode in the mammal series - this one on plant predators.

The activity at Recap (& cocktail hour) this evening was a celebration of John’s

fortieth birthday. Craig created some foolishness about the necessity of his wearing a

completely out-of-date type shirt in order to conform to Canadian Maritime Law on

35