Benny the Bottom Dweller

This week in the art therapy groups we are making sea creatures. We couldn't come up with a good idea but I thought it would be great to do something beachy, maybe having to do with summer, and somehow we ended up with giant squids and other horrible creatures of the depth as inspiration for fantastic tape-and-foil creations. I can't take pictures of the children's work for ethical reasons but I can post my creation: Benny.



Benny lives on the bottom of the shallows of the ocean and on coral reefs, scurrying around trying to find dead plant matter and small bugs to nosh on. His back looks like coral so he blends in so larger fish won't come to eat him. Also, one of his eyes is bigger than the other (which you can't see in this pictures unfortunately). I did this because I am extremely self-conscious about how one of my eyes is slightly smaller than the other although most people never notice this, so I gave Benny the same thing to deal with on top of having to blend in to avoid being eaten.

Even though Benny tries to blend in with his surroundings, he is bright orange! So he only really fits in with one specific environment. Outside of the protective camouflage of the brightly colored rocks and coral, Benny is obvious and vulnerable.

I actually had time to make a full project this time because the kids were so well behaved and focused today. Today was the first day of summer camp and we see them at the end of the day, so they have spent the whole day running around and having a good time. It is such a big difference to see them now as opposed to after a day full of stressful school.

Anyway, welcome Benny to the internet!