James R. Eads
"Fading, Fleeting, Retreating"
Edition of 50 + 5APs (signed & numbered)
Fine-art Giclée print on cold-press Italian watercolor paper
24" x 18"
Printmaker:Spoke Art Editions
$60
“Fading, Fleeting, Retreating”, an illustration about the endangered Salt Marsh habitat, focuses on four blue herons and the variety of plant and animal life primarily associated with Salt Marshes. When I began working on this piece I knew that I wanted to illustrate the density of life in the habitat, it’s something that I think is easily overlooked especially in salt marshes, where at first glance look to be just sprawling wetlands. Many of the residents of salt marshes are small and easy to miss and even in the illustration I’ve scattered them throughout the image, some nearly impossible to see without careful examination. I chose to focus in on a small patch of a salt marsh habitat and explore the magic within that space in an effort to highlight the density of life. A lot of the salt marsh life exists underneath the changing tide so I found it crucial to depict both aspects of the habitat. In much of the work I create I rely heavily on color and motion to form a scene that comes to life. The motion that I employ in this piece is extremely important to it’s meaning as it both exhibits the intense sense of life in the salt marsh habitat but also the ecosystem’s fragility; without care the salt marshes will fade away. I wanted the habitat’s risk of endangerment to come across in the illustration, but not for it to dominate the scene. In the image the blue herons are starting to disappear - the lines of motion morphing with the surroundings. It only takes a single species disappearance to cause an entire habitat to come crashing down, and sometimes it is all too subtle.
The title of the illustration is also something that is very important to this particular piece. While I am working on an illustration I often begin to title it in the early stages and the title develops as the illustration grows. “Fading, Fleeting, Retreating” speaks to many aspects of the salt marsh: more obviously, it is a shifting habitat and as the tide retreats certain species thrive, likewise, when the tide is high others dominate. The physical appearance of a salt marsh can look drastically different depending on the time of day. The title is also about the quality of an endangered habitat: if it is not cared for it will soon just become a fleeting memory, only to exist in those that remember.
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