Why flounders?, you may ask.

They’re not a Lake Superior fish, but how could you not like a flounder? They are beautiful. Adorable. Or grotesque.

They’re always on the bottom, always looking up.

I started painting them because I felt like I was floundering. Not the kind of floundering where I felt lost or hopeless, but more like I had taken way too big a bite of something so delicious that I couldn’t help myself. My mouth was so full of this wonderful food that I questioned whether I could actually chew and swallow it.

That doesn’t sound like floundering anymore.

Ok. I was feeling frustrated about a painting. That doesn’t usually make me flounder, because I can just paint over it. But I was painting in public. People were watching. They wanted to see what I was doing. I was painting trees. As you may be aware, I am known for painting fish in trees.

When I mentioned floundering, I put the two together and put flounders in the branches.

Then I eventually obliterated the whole thing.

It was fine. It was valuable to me.

I sold the canvas and came away with flounders… the binturoung of the fish world. I haven’t mentioned them here before, but I love them. For as long as I can remember, if you asked me what my favorite animal is, I’d say binturoung.

Binturoungs to me, are like sloths are to my daughter.

I’m not sure why I associate them with flounders, but I do.

Maybe the color. Something about their facial expression. I don’t need to justify this.

Binturoungs smell like popcorn.

So why flounders? Just for the halibut.