The Legend of the Moonfish
Please enjoy our translation of Jimmy Perron‘s inspirational encounter with a Moonfish on the Saint Lawrence River.
(Image details: MOON FISH, 2017 by Jimmy Perron, 24″ x 20″, acrylic on panel)
I was born on a remote island, in the middle of the Saint Lawrence River. An endless source of inspiration for a painter such as myself. My work, my artistic approach, despite all the mutations it will experience over the years, will always bare its marks. I owe respect and tribute to this grandiose river. An artist, which ever medium he might use, nourishes his art from personal experiences. These might be travels all over the world, or eclectic meetings which can be just as exotic.
Here’s one experience:
On a sunny and calm afternoon of August 2016 I would’ve never imagined it possible, to be inspired as such and so close to home. On most Sundays, my girlfriend and I have the habit of heading out for an excursion on the river. This afternoon was particularly calm and serene, its waters creating a perfect reflection of the clouds, sun, and sky. We glided calmly in our kayaks towards Baie-Saint-Paul, a beautiful coastal community, some few nautical miles from Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive; our launching point and where my workshop is located.
The calmness and completeness were only disrupted by the splashing of a few cormorant’s wings that we aroused as we passed by. The sun slowly set, to give its place to a full moon on the other side of the horizon.
As we returned to our launch point, close to the dock, a flock of people were gathered on the beach. All, pointed in the same direction. I decided to approach, from a distance. I saw what looked like a dark fin that seemed to cut the water in half. It almost looked like an agonizing cormorant, fatally wounded. I kept drawing closer and closer, when suddenly the fin noticed my presence and skimmed towards my craft. Shaken, my partner advised me to pull away.
“It could be a shark!” she yelled.
The UFO, or unidentified floating object, drew random circles as it slowly crept in my direction. I cautiously paddle closer and closer. I could feel the onlookers’ nervousness on the beach. I was now very close to the creature. I leaned just enough to have a better look.
Disbelief ! Only a few centimeters underneath my boat was an enormous beast, roughly shaped like a sphere, with two large pectoral fins and yet no tail fin. The creature looked at me with its two large bulging eyes from under the water. It must have been over 2 meters long! I had never seen anything like it. I was flabbergasted…
After some research back at my place, I found that it was an exotic fish that can be found in the warm waters of the Equator. It’s named an Ocean sunfish. For some years now, these fish have been sighted, all of them unfortunately dead, on the shorelines further upstream of the Saint Lawrence River. No one had ever seen one in our waters alive! I like to think so at least…
I found myself thinking, how this beast from another world could have become a part of the Québécois mythology if one of my ancestors would have found it in one of his catches…The strange story of this sea monster, which came down from the full moon or hell…as the waters of the river warmed up, even in autumn…