Go Big or Go Home! Larger Art Pieces are Here!

Seahorses are like people, some tall, and some short! The largest of the creatures is the Big-Bellied Seahorse, not a very romantic name, but it does give you a good visual. The Big-Bellies can grow more than one foot long! They inhabit shallow waters of Southern Australia and New Zealand.

Greater Seahorse 2, KJadon, 2024; Glass & Resin, Sold

Rather fascinatingly, the Big-Bellies can take their long tails and wind them in or wind them out, anchoring themselves to seagrass or even to other seahorses. Mating for life, a pair of Big-Bellies will hang out together for about six years down under.

Greater Seahorse 1, KJadon, 2024; Glass & Resin; Available at Do Over Decor, Jensen Beach, FL

When mating, the female will push her belly against the male’s brood pouch, at the base of his tail. She will inject 300-500 eggs through an egg duct. The brood pouch becomes a placenta, sustaining the foals with nutrients. Like all seahorses, the male carries the eggs until they are ready to swim on their own.

Greater Seahorse 3, KJadon 2024; Glass & Resin, 15 x 22; Now Available

These larger art pieces are created upon reclaimed glass shelving. This type of glass is thick and durable and able to hold the glass and resin that I layer atop.

Other pieces of glass are remnants from bottles, vases, fancy dishes, stemware and plates. I use these types of glass because they have shape, curves, texture and sometimes prints that are unusual. I especially like to place them as the crowns on the seahorses’ heads. Some small shards are leftovers from other artists’ stained glasswork. Approximately 99% of my art is eco-art, utilizing repurposed and recycled glass. It arrives from friends, thrift shops and a garage sale or two!

See my Stone, Shell and Jewelry Art! Paintings Smaller Glass Pieces

Artwork Available Locally at Do Over Decor and Sand & Sea Boutique

(C) Kelly Jadon, 2024

The Greater Seahorses Are Here!

“How does a male seahorse give birth?”

“With a Sea-Section!”

Funny but half-true. Among this unique species, it is the male who gives birth. Tiny baby seahorses are ejected from the male’s abdomen into the coastal waters. The number ranges from dozens to thousands!

JBCC Breakfast, with Cindy Charette

In May, I was invited by Cindy Charette, owner of the Sand & Sea Boutique in Jensen Beach to introduce my seahorse art at the Jensen Beach Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

Great Seahorse #1, Kelly Jadon, 2024, SOLD

I am currently working on a series of greater seahorses—larger pieces. Beginning with a recycled glass shelf, I drew an outline of what I wanted to create on a piece of paper. Placing the shelf on top, I began to move dark blue glass into the perimeter of the seahorse—a male—and later filled in layers of other stained glass.

Great Seahorse #2, Kelly Jadon, 2024—in the works

I have another shelf in the works! I located a really cool (is that word still acceptable?) blue-purplish dish that I utilized for the animal’s back dorsal fin. Other bits and segments are incorporated on the crown, head and along the back. Greater Seahorse #2 is soon to be finished and will be 12x21”. Currently, the clear area around the creature is being filled with a variety of glass motifs.

Summer’s upon us. Down here in South Florida, it’s already hot, hot, hot. The gators are on the move, with a sighting on my street late one night this week. Huge softshell turtles are digging up my flower beds to lay many nests of eggs. But the kids have finished school. The snowbirds have flown up north home and families are leaving for vacation.

My creations are approximately 90% recycled materials. I’m always in search of glass from busted up shower doors and colored or stained glass, especially brighter colors. Please let me know if I can take it off your hands. ;) Thank you for your interest in my artwork.

(C) Kelly Jadon, 2024

The Florida Seahorses

Several years ago, my husband and I were out on Hutchinson Island on the dock across the street from the House of Refuge. A man was there netting fish. On this occasion, he’d also caught a seahorse! There are in fact, three different types of seahorses native to Floridian waters.

I’ve recently read Seahorses: A Life-Size Guide to Every Species by Sara Lourie. The author has a Ph.D. in the science of seahorses and has made their study and preservation her life’s work. Fascinating!

Dwarf Seahorse by Will Thomas, Wikipedia, CC. Lic.

In the world, there are approximately 50 various types of seahorse. The tiniest may be the size of a bean!

Often, their colors blend with their environment for protection. Their camouflage normally includes mottling, spots, and stripes. They have crowns, little frills, and points like spikes. The creatures swim slowly in an upright position, and are usually found in coastal waters anchored by their tails to seagrass, mangroves, coral, etc.. Their long snouts are used to suction in tiny invertebrates.

During courtship, they are seen waltzing.

The male seahorse will carry fertilized eggs and then give birth to them. How many? Some seahorses birth thousands!

Aqua Jeweled Seahorse, Kelly Jadon 2024, Available at Sand & Sea 3/21/24

Currently, I’m creating a series of seahorses. They can be viewed or purchased at the Sand & Sea Boutique in Jensen Beach, Florida.

This Dwarf Seahorse is found around the Florida Keys!

Dwarf Seahorse, Layered Stained Glass, Resin Finish Kelly Jadon, 2024

(C) Kelly Jadon

O Christmas Tree...!

What’s in a Christmas tree? Hopes for a happy year’s ending? Or the beginning of something new and fresh?

Each time I draw together pieces of glass to cut, smooth and place, I hope to begin something new and unique, non-standard, even, dare I say it, “imperfect.”

A perfect tree isn’t true to a natural habitat. It has flaws. Has repelled attacks. Yet, it is regarded as “just right,” and is adorned by the good works of its purchaser.

Each one, perfectly imperfect.

A Forest of Christmas Trees, Kelly Jadon, 2023, SOLD

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(C) Kelly Jadon, 2024