PAINTING 8 - Amanita Go for a Swim

Apparently one mushroom jellyfish was not enough.

And frankly, why would it be?

Meet Amanita Go for a Swim.

Painting No. 8 of 100 and the latest evidence that I have completely abandoned the constraints of both marine biology and mycology.

She is part mushroom.

Part jellyfish.

Part fabulous red hat.

And she has decided to go for a swim.

I like to imagine she was growing perfectly happily on the forest floor when one day she looked around and thought:

Actually, I fancy the ocean.

So off she went.

No qualifications.

No appropriate anatomy.

No particular concern about whether mushrooms can swim.

Just living off vibes.

And perhaps I am projecting wildly onto a fictional mushroom-jellyfish hybrid here, but I think there is something rather lovely about that.

We spend an enormous amount of time deciding what we're supposed to be.

Where we're supposed to live.

What we're supposed to do.

What makes sense.

What matches the version of ourselves everybody already knows.

Meanwhile Amanita has grown tentacles and fucked off to sea.

I respect her enormously.

I painted her with this gloriously rich green surrounding her, a big rusty-red amanita cap covered in chunky little white spots, and long soft tendrils that make her look like she's floating somewhere between an enchanted forest and the bottom of the ocean.

She is weird.

She is whimsical.

She makes absolutely no sense.

Perfect.

Original acrylic painting on rough-edged paper. Roughly 8.5 x 12
One of one
Painting 8 of 100

For anyone currently considering doing something that makes absolutely no sense on paper.

Amanita says go for a swim.