Chainsaw (aka Zorro aka T063)
This buoy with rope was found by Ocean Adventures Charters on their beach clean-up initiative in the summer of 2021. It likely came from a crab fishery, either recreational or commercial to mark where the traps have been placed on the sea floor. It was found in the Normansell Islands near Aristazabal Island on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada.
On this piece I have painted ‘Chainsaw’ (T063) also known in Southern Alaska as ‘Zorro’. Chainsaw is so named because of the distinctive notches in his dorsal fin, he usually appears in Canadian waters at the beginning of April and is popular with the local whale watching boats. As a member of the Bigg’s orcas (aka transient killer whales) he eats seals, sealions and other marine mammals. Born in 1978 Chainsaw is 47 years old, he travels with his mother Whidbey II (T065) and the rest of their clan who spend most of their time in Southeast Alaska.
I have also painted a school of herring and a smack of jellyfish including a ‘fried-egg’ jellyfish (Phacellophora camtschatica). Herring return each spring to the coastal waters all along the BC coast to spawn. This is an incredible site, their milt turns the North Pacific waters Caribbean blue and their eggs are laid thick on kelp, sea grass, rocks and sometimes even crabs that stand too still for too long. Animals all over the coast feast themselves on this golden buffet and the proliferation of life is and incredible sight. I have also painted plumose anemones, proliferating/brooding anemones, ochre sea stars and vermillion sea stars.
We need to learn more about orcas so that we can learn to be better neighbours to them, that is why10% of the proceeds from the sale of this buoy will be donated to Orca Lab. The work of Orca Lab is based on the philosophy that it is possible to study the wild without interfering with lives or habitat and they have been working on this coast since 1970. Please visit Orcalab.org to learn more.