Seashells and seaweed

Seashells and seaweed, 2022, by Michael Steele. Gouache, paper cut.

Seashells and seaweed (detail), 2022, by Michael Steele.

Here’s an illustration I created over the weekend of mussel shells, Cat’s eye shells, and seaweed. Cat’s eye is the common name for the lid or operculum of the common sea snail Turbo smaragdus. There is something tranquil and mediative about foraging on a beach and finding the shells and seaweed washed up on the shore.