This series title of Misbegotten Sea Creatures came, rather unexpectedly, from a quirky greeting card and some mysterious-looking root balls I had scavenged during afternoon walks.

The first drawings, inspired by forms dug from the earth and reimagined as marine life with a harebrained design, were begun. They started on paper as clusters of identical, graphite cells that replicated and began to differentiate themselves to form a sea creature that required means of propulsion and eating. 

That process catalyzed a series of drawings, and several new species were born. As forms began to proliferate in my studio, so did ideas about the characteristics of the sea creatures: mechanisms of reproduction, digestive systems, growth patterns, and cellular structures. My studio became a biome and the drawings became records of aquatic animals and their traits. Misbegotten Sea Creatures is an evolving series that has formed its own invented phylum. As creatures are discovered, they establish their place within their phylum’s taxonomy, echoing evolution and discovery in the natural world.