Low tides have come and gone while I sat at home looking at the tide charts, wondering what I was missing during the pandemic. But with the easing of restrictions here in Washington, I finally ventured out to my regular haunt in West Seattle for the first two times this season. My first outing was not very exciting, I found only a single nudibranch and not a whole lot else. This week however, I had more success in not only finding a few nudibranchs, but also making some discoveries new to me.

Summer has officially begun in Seattle, and this week offered sunny weather and remarkably calm water for searching the tidal zone. It wasn’t long before I found the first nudibranchs, but at first I didn’t see them because the rock I had…

This is a slightly silly, but fun slideshow presentation I made about a nudibranch I see here in Seattle, Tritonia festiva using my own photos.

Earlier this spring I picked up my watercolors and began sketching and painting nudibranchs. Over the last few couple of months I’ve continued painting and finished a number of new nudibranchs. I’ve also ventured into other subjects, some of them featuring in my recent articles, others just for fun. Although I’m not painting nudibranchs as often, I’m still trying to paint several times a week on whatever draws my attention. Below are a few more nudibranchs I’ve painted since the last time I featured them. This time I ventured into highlighting some behavior, including a pair of Glossodoris species mating, and Tyrannodoris leonis eating another of the same species.

Nearly all of my reference photos came from the wonderful book Nudibranchs of the World by Helmut Debelius and Rudie Kuiter.