One of the great pleasures are tide pool excursions. The sound of the surf accompanied by the refreshing sea breeze is a wonderful environment to explore the diversity of creatures living between sand and sea. Children are enchanted by the tide pool ecosystem; and perfect strangers wander together in search of unusual living creatures in the small pools formed by the receding tide. If you ever had the pleasure to go tide pooling then you know that Starfish may well be the most unusual well- known creature . They have no front or back: they can move in any direction without turning. Rather than using muscles to move their hundreds of tiny legs, starfish use a complex hydraulic system to move around or cling to rocks. The intake valve for this system is generally located on the top of the Starfish, just off center. If you’ve ever tried to pry a Starfish off a rock, you know how effective its hydraulic system really is. The different varieties have wonderful names like, Ochre Star, Bat Star, Six-rayed Star and Knobby Star. They don’t have to make themselves symmetrical. They can rearrange their arms any way they please in order to wedge themselves into a small nook in the rocks. I named this surreal image, The Sunflower Star that breaks all stereotypes and that is probably what attracts me to this atypical starfish. It typically has 20 arms, is soft to the touch and moves in a graceful flow across the surface of the tidepool. I wanted the leaves to be a flowing blue attached to this vibrant yellow flower creating a surreal image blending the floral with the sea.