Tidepool V

Artist: Pam Haunschild

Format: Mixed watermedia, black float frame

Dimensions: 11" x 14" x 2"

Description:

A tidepool rewards anyone willing to crouch down and actually look — and Pam Haunschild's painting does exactly that, packing the frame edge to edge with the small, vivid life a passing glance would miss. A crab tucks into the lower right corner, claws raised, its shell catching light against the surrounding color. An anemone unfurls nearby, urchins dot the surface in spiky clusters, and the entire composition glows in saturated reds, greens, and golds — less a literal tidepool than the feeling of one, that sense of a whole ecosystem thriving in a space barely large enough to wade into. "I wanted to capture something of the beauty of the various plants and animals found in a tidepool," Haunschild says, and the density of the painting makes the point better than any single creature could on its own: look closely, and there's always more there than you expected.