JOURNAL
Notes from the field, studio and curious places in between.
Observations, work in progress, natural history rabbit holes, expedition stores, ideas and experiences that surface while in the pursuit of creative and curious adventure.
Wanderlust | Great White Shark
Here’s a look at some of the artwork featured in my current solo exhibition.
Exhibition | Beyond Illustrating Nature, WANDERLUST
Dates | July 8-Oct 5, 2025
Location | Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, Pacific Grove, California, USA
Great White Shark (GWS) | Carcharodon carcharias
This art is on display at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History through November 5th, 2025. It’s the first art a visitor encounters in the stairwell on the way to the exhibition on the second floor of the museum.
The large business end of the shark is printed at the size of a full grown GWS. Take a selfie and share it with me, please! I have a goal to get 100 smiling sharkie selfies from visitors to the museum.
I created this illustration for Monterey Bay Aquarium and we broke one of the golden rules of illustration: shrink your art when reproducing it. Instead, we enlarged it 1000%. We blew it up! Figuratively speaking.
I invite you to visit the exhibition at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History in person. Can’t make it to Pacific Grove or past the closing date? Visit the online version of the exhibition. Leave me a comment and let me know which sea creature in which art is your fave!
WiP Journal Entry ~ The Return of Lange Kunst Nacht [Long Art Night]
The weather forecast said RAIN…I’ve never been happier that the weathermen were misinformed!
I’ve been in Der Kunst Club gallery for a year and a half but because of the pandemic, we really haven’t been open. Last night that changed with the 16th Annual Lange Kunst Nacht. Last time I lived in Germany, I always went to this once-a-year party in Old Town Leonberg but last night was my first time as a participant. It also kicked off my three month art show, Below Sea Level. We had live music in the gallery and a live music light show shining on buildings from the 1600s in the courtyard behind the gallery. We probably had 200 hundred people come through and I sold originals, prints, cards and books. …tbd
Subtidal Passage | Kunamokst Mural Mosaic Project
Mural in its permanent home at Galiano Inn & Spa on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Two hundred artists from the west coast and across N. America collaborated to create a huge mural of an Orca mother and calf. The mural is a mosaic of 231 original paintings by artists neither knowing one another, nor what the final image would be. Artists as young as 16 years to over 90 years old contributed their work pro bono to be a part of this amazing project.
I may hold the award for the furthest afield artist in this mural (Stuttgart, Germany), and am forever thrilled to be a part of this project because of the theme (Orca, my marine biologist totem animal), the meaning behind the Chinook word, Kunamokst (Together, unity thru diversity), and being in the company of some amazing artists (including Robert Bateman).
I have a permanent home in Gig Harbor, Washington but as a military spouse with wanderlust, we currently live in Germany. This mural has a permanent home at Galiano Inn & Spa on Vancouver Island. It was unveiled at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.
Check out the Kunamokst website for more information and to order a limited edition print or DIY Kunamokst Mural book: www.kunamokstmural.com
Subtidal Passage © 2010 Kirsten Carlson | acrylic, unstretched canvas, 12 x 12 inches
These are familiar friends, anytime I go diving on the West coast. I sometimes glimpse Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) cruising past my bubbles, but most often I see them napping just above the waves on nearshore rocks. And, although Painted Greenlings (Oxylebius pictus) blend in unbelievably well with their surroundings, I can spy them when they dash from spot to spot amongst the swaying red algae (Rhodymenia spp). The Fish Eating Anemones (Urticina piscivora) appear like ghostly white flowers in the underwater landscape. They have an interrelationship with Painted Greenlings just like some anemones in tropical seas have with clownfish. I am grateful for each dive-adventure I take, because each time I see something new and wonderful in the underwater realm of the sea.
How was each tile made? These 4 images show the progress for tile #166. Every artist received an image (left), they were instructed to replicate the colors and pattern of the tile without knowing the final image.