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Liza's Reef
-Paintings & Story
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This painting is the smallest that I have done so
far in the series and shows one of the parrotfish the natives refer to
as Areiti,
or Peu ondulent
in French, which translated into their Tahitian dialect, means " little
wave". These small parrotfish are very common
on Liza's Reef, and are seen often, nibbling softly at the corals. They
seem to be especially fond of the black, blue and yellow coral
seen in the foreground,
known
as Corail de minuit
(Midnight Coral)
that is also very common to the reef. This I recall
as an especially beautiful type which glowed
phosphorescently with soft yellow and blue colors in the evenings and
early morning hours. Behind it is a tall stand of
Corail de feu, or
Fire Coral.
This coral was one of the most vibrantly colored on the reef and
actually is a mature specimen of the more commonly seen white
varieties, which attain this level of coloration as they age.
Behind them are two of the wonderfully spherical Corail de la lune de mort -Coral of the Dying Moon. These grew to very large sizes, and I saw one specimen that had a diameter of over five feet. They are extremely delicate corals and their matrix-like structure was fascinating in its detail and elegance. On one dive I had a memorable experience of seeing two spiral galaxies behind two Coraux de la lune de mort, and it is this memory that I have tried to capture in my painting.
On To Painting #3 " Blue Angels"