octopus killing shark

this piece really started out as a doodle while my students were working on an all-hour in-class writing assignment. i'm kind of stuck there monitoring them, but i can't interact w/ them in any way -- so i was doodling in my journal. the page was blue, so i thought of a water theme. i did the waves during class and then wasn't sure what to put under it.

originally i thought of a shark, and as i was looking up shark pictures on google, i found this story about an octopus caught killing the sharks in the tank. i found that extremely interesting from a philosophical standpoint -- the mean/tough bully of the ocean (which happens to have a very small brain compared to its size) is taken down by an intelligent creature with no backbone. h-m-m-m, sounds like some things in life that i know. those people who are bullies and try to force other people to bend to their will are not always going to win and will eventually be taken down by someone or something that has more intelligence and/or a better use of resources but is maybe not seen or thought of as being as "strong" as a shark.

this picture is done in a comp notebook w/ cheap acrylic paint for the background. the drawings part is done w/ a blue gel pen and the shark picture was cut out and glued in place. i was tired of working on the picture and didn't want to mess is up by drawing the shark wrong or something! no protective spray or covering was used on the page as gel pen doesn't smear unless it's wet. if the book gets that wet -- probably protective spray wouldn't save the picture anyway!