Sea Monster

[egoetia]

Sea monsters are sea-dwelling mythical or legendary creatures, often believed to be of immense size. Marine monsters can take many forms, including sea dragons, sea serpents, or multi-armed beasts. They can be slimy or scaly and are often pictured threatening ships or spouting jets of water. The definition of a "monster" is subjective, and some sea monsters may have been exaggerations of scientifically accepted creatures such as whales and types of giant and colossal squid. This is the “Glittering Sea Monster”  -  Captured in 2005 (Great hunt on Lake Leman).

[Valentine Mark Herman]

Hey! There's another Sea Monster person out there.

I'm one too. My Sea Monsters are driftwood ones, found on the local beaches; there are more than 200 of them in my 'family'.

You can see them if you trawl through the photros on My Page, and/or look at my web-site www.val-herman-art.eu then Beach Art then Sea Monsters. Also look at the Driftwood section, for painted versions of the same.

I like your Glittering Sea Monster.

Some of my Sea Monsters are currently on exhibition at rthe Galerie Serrencia in Sigean, France.

Here's an introductory text I wrote for the Exhibition:

                                      

SEA MONSTERS

In the beginning...

In the beginning, there was land, there was sky, and there was the sea.

Before mankind was created, Monsters ruled the lands, the skies and the seas.

Monsters – such as dinosaurs and  – roamed the lands.

Flying Monsters – such as pterodactyls – filled the skies.

And there were Monsters of the deep and not so deep seas.

Sea Monsters existed in all shapes and sizes.

Some were very large, others were very small.

Some were amphibious, others lived all of their lives in the sea.

Some were aggressive, others were very peaceful.

It was thought – and even hoped? – that all of them had become extinct.

Whilst the Monsters of the lands and the skies died out millions of years ago, the Monsters of the seas lived on, frozen in time, in the deepest parts of the ocean.

They were undiscovered by mankind, and they, in turn, had not discovered mankind.

But then something extraordinary happened. There was an enormous seaquake, and the deepest oceans began to give up their secrets...and their dormant Sea Monsters.

The seaquake scattered the Sea Monsters far and wide.

Not all of them survived this traumatic experience – the oceans were now too hot or too cold for them, they could not find enough or the right type of food, and, for the first time in their existence, they had to contend with man's pollution of the oceans.

But some of these Sea Monsters not only survived but flourished, especially in the gentle waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

There is a small – and so far little known – colony of Sea Monsters that live in the seas near Port-la-Nouvelle. They are, in the main, sociable Sea Monsters who keep to themselves.

If you know where to look for them, and understand how to approach them so that they do not become frightened, they can be seen on the beaches and in the shallow waters at dawn and at dusk, and when they come out to feed.

I have befriended many of the Sea Monsters, several of whom have consented to be photographed and exhibited here.

A gentle word of warning: Sea Monsters should be approached with care, because if they get scared they will return to the depths of the seas and may not re-emerge for thousands or even millions of years.

Valentine Mark Herman,

Galerie Serrencia, Sigean. August 2012