Ty’s heart is in the forest so he hasn’t done as many nautilus as he has opossums, and while he is deeply aware that artworks of swordfish, salmon or whales breaching are very popular and sell immediately, he drifts, as usual, to the humbler, less spectacular critters like hermit crabs, jellyfish and seahorses. Pen and ink artists love to draw octopuses because of swirling detail and because they are crowd-favorites, and artist Ty Meier, showing in seacoast art markets, is always surprised how many people count tentacles to make sure there are eight. Get the number of tentacles wrong and every kid suddenly becomes an art-critic!
This artwork has done well with a demographic that warms Ty’s heart: Ty shows at Boston Greenway Art Marketplace. Employees of the Boston Aquarium would walk by Ty’s art booth on their way to work and one by one several of them stopped to buy this octopus print. Ty is gratified both that they like the art and that they love the critters they care for. It’s so good!
This print is 8”x10” and was glued and pressed to a hand-painted craft board. Ty used a ‘rigger’ brush- sort of a long, thin, signpainterly brush- to add glossy acrylic medium to give it texture and depth, and finally layered on lacquer to give it that shiny underwater feel.
