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Ittie Bittie Fishies

detail of 20x20 watercolor

This painting is featured on page 3 of my book Watercolor Unleashed

Freddie is taking a break from certain catastrophic events

she's been telling us about - or is she??? 

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A FREDERICA & CHLOE PICTURE BOOK MYSTERY – PART 10

A series of short-short stories featuring Frederika/Freddie and Chloe, Freddie’s cat

© Julie Gilbert Pollard

Freddie and Wendy go on a combo working/vacation trip…

YES! Wendy and I are in the air somewhere over Texas – destination Key West, Florida, where the azure waters beckon.

I’m so excited. It’s been a while since I was on a scuba diving trip. Rogero and I once took many scuba trips together. But that’s an entirely ‘nother story.

For this trip I have to work – fun work! My class participants and I will have 3 days of scuba diving or snorkeling, depending on each person’s comfort level (and/or ears) alternating with days spent in “studio painting”, where we will paint the scenes seen underwater the day before. A 6-day painting workshop!

“Ears” – you ask? Some people have trouble clearing their ears (a technique that equalizes the pressure in the middle ear) which is necessary in order to descend into the depths and not burst an eardrum. I myself have had ear injuries after not clearing them properly while descending. Then you have to sit out the dives until the ears heal. Once you get an eardrum injury you’re pretty much done scuba diving for the duration of the trip. Flying home by air can also be a problem after an ear injury. So, yes, ear issues can be a real bummer. But you can still snorkel if you’re up to it.

And then, there are a few who don’t like all the fuss, what with the necessary equipment and training that allow us humans to swim with the fishes. Scuba diving is very equipment-intensive and all that stuff can be overwhelming. But, oh, so much fun!

Wendy had some vacation time coming and when invited to be my assistant – thus, giving her a trip partly paid for – she jumped on the chance. We’ve become very good friends during the past few months, and I am sure she will be a great traveling companion as well as assistant!

All is great between us as long as we don’t talk about “Connie”.

We are not sorry to leave our “troubles” behind for a couple of weeks, though we will surely miss our furry family. They will be well taken care of in our absence – by Rogero - and will likely not miss us too much. Well, at least Chloe won’t – she’s a cat.

That’s not fair – that was a cheap joke. In fact, the last time I left her for several days – well looked-after, mind you – she was so glad to see me when I got home, twining herself around my ankles, purring like a motorboat – at first – for about 3 minutes. Then I got the cold shoulder for the next couple of hours.

I was being punished.

I actually do relate. I am a kindred soul – artists and cats are both very misunderstood. It is a cross we bear.

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In due time, we arrive at the Miami airport – wait for about 6 months for our rental car – or what seems like 6 months – and are on our way to our Key West Dive Resort. During which, we have an uneventful trip. This is good as we are both anxious to arrive at our hotel and start enjoying the balmy breezes and bathwater-temperature ocean.

Yes - putting our troubles behind!

We might as well relax and enjoy the drive - it looks to be a long one. And sure enough, we are caught at the Jewfish Creek drawbridge near the entrance to Key Largo. While waiting for a boat to pass, Wendy opens a window and mosquitos – who have been lying in wait – swarm in and practically drag us out of the car to their lair where they will relieve us of our blood.

Welcome to Florida!

Despite the mosquitoes, I love the vibe of the Florida Keys.

And we have mosquitos at home too – though surely not as aggressive as these.

And I love the school I am teaching for! Young at Arts School of the Arts – AKA, YASA – is my dream workshop program. YASA takes care of setting up the venue, scuba/snorkeling activities, breakfast, lunch, two dinners, enrolling the participants, and then helping them and me with whatever we might need during our stay.

I just show up and teach – awesome!

Not to mention of course, having done all the necessary prep work, including the work of many years that has culminated in getting jobs like this one. I bask in my success. 😊

I signed the contract to teach this workshop almost two years ago. At some point when scary events began to stack up, I wondered about the advisability of cancelling. But I always do everything in my power to live up to my commitments.

Also, I kept putting off the decision – my head buried deeply in the sand – until it was way too late to cancel.

And I need the money.

So, to be honest, Rogero turned up at just the right time. Of course, he would have liked to come with me as my assistant, rather than Wendy. But NO – I need him to stay home with the pets and keep the home fires burning, so to speak. Our conversation went something like this:

“We are NOT together, Rogi – you know that. You’ve just been around the whole damn world, and I wasn’t invited along as your assistant.”

“Freddie, you know I don’t have an assistant. Working as I do on a ship, is work, hard work. I wasn’t on a bloody Rick Steves tour as you well know.”

“Yes, you worked like a dog. So now you need a rest. So, rest already - rest here. Maybe making yourself useful in MY house for a change. And I’m not going on vacation either – I will be working – hard. B-b-b bloody hard,” I begin to stammer. I’m right on the edge of a total breakdown.

Perhaps you can see why we don’t live together.

But Rogero takes pity, gives me a hug and promises to take good care of the home fires and also- in the meantime - to take some of the pressure off to help me concentrate on my prep work. At this point, I still had a couple of weeks, but I am much more comfortable getting my lesson plans in order, supplies organized, etc. at least a week ahead. No matter how prepared I am, there are always a ton of last-minute things to take care of.

And for that last two weeks before leaving, everything was quiet. I think Rogero was beginning to wonder if all the events we told him about were exaggerated - blown up out of all proportion.

The quiet was a blessing – everything got done – and here we are!

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Sunday evening – most of the workshop participants have arrived and introductions are being made at the “meet and greet”. One person missed their connecting flight in Dallas, so is still on the way - and for another, the airline has lost her luggage. No clothing, no toiletries, no meds, no swimsuit, no optical-prescription dive mask, no art supplies – no nothing! But she is here, and her lovely fellow students are offering her everything she could possibly need. Though nobody is quite her size she at least won’t be in her birthday suit.

And I always bring a spare basic art supply kit – just in case.

So, she will be more-or-less OK while waiting for her luggage.

Our school director introduces Wendy and me to the class and gives a little welcome speech, along with some “housekeeping” info and turns it over to me. I give my spiel, and we divide the group into three: those who will have a “refresher course”, those who will get the beginners’ “resort-dive” course, and two who plan to snorkel only. Everyone has their “marching orders”.

What a great group we have! They are full of questions - everyone chatting about what to expect on the morrow.

● ● ● ●

“The morrow” arrives - Monday morning! We reek of coconut-scented sunscreen, bug repellant, and expectation. I notice a combination of excitement and trepidation. For some of them this will be their first scuba dive! For them and the rest of us who will benefit from a refresher course, there will be a morning of scuba instruction, followed by lunch, followed by diving in the afternoon.

Oh, I can hardly wait!

I already have my scuba certification, as do some of the others, but a refresher course seems to be a good idea and the school does require it - on advice from their attorney, I’m sure.

FYI, the “resort-dive” course does not give one a scuba “certification”, merely permission to dive under the supervision of a scuba instructor for every dive during the week. Safety first is always the motto!

● ● ● ●

Everyone – almost – has sailed through the dive class - lunch has been had and we’re all raring to go. We and our equipment are on the dive boat, the weather is gorgeous, the water looks like Windex – so turquoise, so clear, so unbelievably beautiful. I have taken my anti-seasickness meds and am able to enjoy the boat ride out to the dive sites.

Even though this was strongly recommended there is one person who didn’t think they needed it and is now “feeding the fishes” as they say in the biz. I also learned the hard way, so I feel their pain. Experience tells me they will feel better once in the water.

I don’t give them any class instruction at this point except to just enjoy the experience – have fun. Tomorrow in studio class I will crack the whip!

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Wendy and I are “dive buddies” and we are now on the bottom. We’re only at a depth of about 33 feet but it feels like we’re on another planet. It is surreal and wonderful – truly awesome. I recall that on my very first dive my sister and brother-in-law descended first and were waiting for me on the bottom, waving and beckoning me to come on down – as I am now waving and beckoning to my own “chicks” who are following.

I really want to take off and go “Peter Pan-ing” through the waving sea fan corals – but I am their “fearless leader” and have to do my job! So, I don’t.

At last, we all gather, “confer” by hand signals and slowly fin toward the reef. Buddies stay together and some go off in loosely-grouped groups.

Most have underwater cameras, as do I. We take photos of corals, tiny colorful fish, a shark in the distance, and each other!

A word here about sharks. If you are a scuba diver, you long to spot a shark. It’s exciting! The sharks, however, do not long to be around us, contrary to popular belief. If you aren’t feeding them – on purpose, with shark food, not your foot of course - they go in the other direction. At least in my experience. The tiny adorable brightly-colored fish, on the other hand, will get right up in your face if you get too close to their home and maybe, their young. They are fierce – or think they are – and give us the evil eye – but that’s all – no teeth.

I am respectful of their home, but there have been a couple of instances where I couldn’t help but get right up close and personal because they are so beautiful, so intriguing, and I want to get close-up photos of them so as to have reference material for painting them.

We see several kinds of fish, a Moray Eel, a lobster, and of course many corals. Our “cups runneth over”.

A Swim-through 

14x20 watercolor

SOLD

To give you a sense of scale, as I recall, the Damselfish

- the midnight blue fish with iridescent spots and yellow tail -

was about 5 or 6 inches long.

After what seems a very short time, my watch and gauges tell me that it’s time to surface. For this first dive we haven’t gone far afield, and I see the dive boat above and we head for it - slowly. Upon surfacing, the crew member who is helping us board says, “welcome back!”

This greeting reinforces the surreal other-worldly world of the undersea experience. I feel like an astronaut returning from Mars!

We all sleep well that night, still excited from the day’s adventures - totally worn out.

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And today we paint. As the instructor, I have a lesson plan prepared and it’s a damn good thing. For I have received a phone call that means – if I am able to instruct my class capably - I am a total professional.

There has been “trouble” at home. Wendy and I have not escaped, after all, just had a break - of what, three days? My concentration for conducting this class is now super-compromised. While we’ve been gone, there has been another break-in, this time, the studio.

Those sons of…

But it could have been worse – Rogero and the animals were in the house – not the studio - so no more concussions.

How I would love to sic some of the wildlife I’ve seen here – read, shark – on them…

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Foureye Butterflies

16x20 touches of oil over water-media on watercolor canvas

AVAILABLE

Here is the Dropbox link to a PDF document, painting the “under-seascape”:

10_JGPollard_Abstract-and-other-studies-for-the-Under-Seascape.pdf

PLEASE NOTE ONCE AGAIN: the mini art chapters following a story segment are written and illustrated – not by Freddie – but by Julie Gilbert Pollard - who has kindly allowed Freddie to borrow them for her blog. :) The STORIES are fiction - the CHAPTERS are non-fiction and quite valid!