#62milliongirls

For no good reason there is a prevalent fallacy spread through many areas of the third world that a boy’s education in more important than a girl’s. This was a harsh fact for a liberal, educated California girl to come to terms with in my travels. This is also the reason I began a program in the East Indies, The Mermaid Islands Corp.; to help educate girls.

The powerful First Lady Michelle Obama has gracefully started a campaign to raise awareness to the 62 million girls denied access to education. Mermaid Scientist and Mermaid Islands embody this spirit and certainly my band of sea fans do too! So, just in case you missed it, this is the First Lady’s message:

“In school, we learn that our voices matter. Tweet or Instagrama black and white portrait and share what you learned in school:“In school, I learned ____. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.””

In support of this inspiring program and with my optimistic hope that the more we talk about the importance of educating girls, the more girls will gain access to an education and consequently whole universes of possibilities! Check out 62milliongirls.com to see all the cute little kid celebrity photos, my favorite has got to be Mindy Kaling.

here is mine:

“In school, I learned how to be a scientist. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.”

Join the movement and tweet or Instagram yours too,

 what a fun and easy way to get involved!

photo-27

All smiles! I won the bid with NOAA/NMFS to create an educational rockfish kids science book & poster!! Drawings of ‪#‎canaryrockfish‬ ‪#‎yelloweyerockfish‬ & ‪#‎bocaccio‬ coming soon! 🐟🐟🐟 Throwback to catching the biggest fish in ‪#‎palau‬ ‪#‎coralgrouper‬
#62milliongirls

Mermaid Scientist Story Hour

story hour photos photo 2 photo 3 photo 5

 

Story Hour with the Mermaid Scientist was a success!

Thank you to the SLO librarians, the enthusiastic kids and supportive parents

You are the wonderful!

The Mermaid Scientist Displays will be up at the San Luis Obispo Library for all of August 2014

when you get a really good email….

Amidst the hustle bustle of everyday, there are fun moments so I’m sharing this one.

I received a lovely email from a lady who is currently hosting some of my fish art in a cute little SLO shop. As an ocean enthusiast, it warmed my heart and gave me a big silly grin.  It is probable that most followers of this little blog share this enthusiasm and would also appreciate getting this little message, so here it is. I just love it!

 

Hi Claudia

I hope all is well for you!
Here’s a story I think you’ll enjoy:   Earlier today, my son and I were walking at Cayucos beach, and we saw a sea lion at the the water’s edge.  It seemed like something was awry with this poor little soul, and so I called the Morro Bay Marine Mammal Center to ask for help. Several rescuers arrived shortly thereafter…They put a towel over her head, scooped her into a crate..and then whisked her off to be tested for what they said was possibly cumulative toxicity from the fish and sundry ocean critters that she eats:(
Before they took off with her, they asked me if I’d like to give her a name — Awwww..How sweet is that…. Yes indeed I’d be delighted to give her a name..was my answer..
I told them I’d like to name her CLAUDIA — in honor of a wonderful artist/marine biologist named Claudia Makeyev:):)
So, that’s the story:-)
A bientot,
xxxxxxxxxxxx
sea lion pup

Thank You

Thank you to everyone for coming out to enjoy some art and wine and chocolate!

I feel grateful to have such classy fantastic friends and family!

photo of the artist at Art After Dark SLO
photo of the artist at Art After Dark SLO

All the Mermaid Scientist art, prints and cards will be on display & for sale June and July at Mama Ganache Artisan Chocolate.

Apricot white chocolate fishes were present at the Mermaid Scientist Art show
Apricot white chocolate fishes were present at the Mermaid Scientist Art show

Schedule for June and July Art After Dark

 I am #24 June and July
I am #24 June and July

AADCurrent_June14

 

Mermaid Scientist Interview at Art After Dark

Artist Interview for Art After Dark by Highlight Media (from the last show)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEi_w3MPdJc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEi_w3MPdJc
YouTube Interview

 

Mermaid Scientist in Chalk

Mermaid Scientist in Chalk

Mermaid Scientist at the San Luis Obispo Mission de Tolosa 2013 I’Madonnari. Artists Claudia Makeyev and Jonathan Haile sketched, spritzed and smeared bright colors into pavement under a  HOT September sun. This work was sponsored by the delicious local favorite Farb’s Bakery. Proceeds went to The Children’s Creative Project, which enhances the arts education programs in the San Luis Obispo County schools and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Central Coast Chapter.

mermaid scientist chalk imadonnarimermaid scientist at the san luis obispo missioni madonnari slo 2013

Purple Parrotfish

Scarus niger ~Watercolor by Claudia Makeyev

Parrotfish, known as Mol Mol in Palawan, are the creators of the beautiful tropical white sand beaches. They are particularly fond of eating the algae film that grows on coral. They chomp into the coral with their beak (actually fused teeth) to get a mouthful of both coral and algae. The crushed coral helps the fish digest the algae and is then pooped out in the form of particularly perfect, soft, white sand. Next time you are relaxing on your tropical vacation, please thank the parrotfish.

These particularly pretty purple parrotfish look most like the male Swarthy Parrotfish – Scarus niger. The ones observed here have slightly different spot patterns behind the eyes but it could be a local variation or due to a shift between initial and terminal phases.

That is A LOT of beautiful tropical white parrotfish poop. Enjoy!

All Systems Go!

When I was smaller, between 300-400 cm, my dad let me sit shotgun as “copilot” in his little 6 seater. Before the prop started whirling at full capacity, we always did a checklist. Seatbelts – check! Head phones – check! Fuel – check! Wings – check! For every worthy adventure, I feel a checklist is in order. My checklist for CrowdFunding:

Project – check, Project Description – check, Rewards – check, Blogs – check, FaceBook – check, Website – check!

Despite being slow out of the gate, I have the distinct feeling of already beating the odds.  My field site is in a remote corner of Busuanga on the north side of Palawan in the Philippine Islands. Beautiful pockets of coral reef and amazing fishes are abundant. Electricity and internet…. not so much. There is a handy solar panel that fuels my trusty little MacBook Air and at night sometimes we splurge and turn the generator on for an hour or more! Oh the melodious sound of power, drowning out the crowing of inbred roosters in the night. yes, the night. Dreams of coq-au-vin.

Electricity – check!

There is one lonely cell phone tower that everyone uses. You Load up with prepaid phone cards. If too many people are texting or calling at one time… well, you just have to wait your turn. The other feature on my phone is “Radio”, which I think means it streams the local Filipino station into headphones. Note: get headphones.

Phone – check!

A Dongle and MORE phone load for internet capabilities on your computer. This lets one squeeze out slow emails and leaves one with memories of what it felt like to download.

Internet – check!

iMovie, a fascinating program that enables one to put together homemade footage into a wonderfully cheese filled SciFund project PSA. My laptop has become irritated and exhausted with iMovie. Their abusive relationship has been up and down the last few days, it is apparent that they are asking too much from one another. I suspect Miss Mac has more important things to occupy her space with. The heat and power situation has tempers running hot. It ended with a 9 hour stint of “Finalizing Project”.

Video – check!

We beat the heat, the humidity, and the 3rd world rural resource availability.

All systems are go!

Finished Video: