Hello Friends,

Here is a quick sketch I did the other night with my watercolor pencils.  I was watching a nature show about sea creatures a couple of weeks ago, and I had never seen this type of octopus before!  I sketched it in graphite pencil first, but made a note that it was a vivid red color!  (My watercolor pencils don’t do it justice, and I will probably paint it again bigger and closer to the real color at some point.)

This type of octopus is called a Blanket octopus.  This is a female.  They can grow as long as 6 feet!  They drift in the open ocean at all times.  When she feels threatened by predators, she can unveil her “Gossamer shroud” to make herself look bigger.  She can also detach part of her cloak to confuse her predators as well as release ink!  I thought it was interesting.

And if you want to see the first octopus I did, it’s called Octopus on the Loose!

I painted this on a Canson 5×7 watercolor sketch pad I picked up the other day.  I haven’t used my watercolor pencils in a while, and this is not exactly how red it appears in the show, but I am going to watch it again, and hopefully be able to match the red better with my paints from the tube.  Also, I am going to try and paint her with her shroud spread out a lot more like it showed on the nature show.  And who knows?  Maybe I will get some octopus cards made, too, someday!

Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug!  🙂