Election years are tough in any community, but they can be especially tense in the town of Poissons Partout. Folks are almost evenly split between two predominant parties, which locals refer to as “Team Fin” and “Team Tentacle”. The Fins favor Airfish (Tetraodontidae aerius), which nest in the town’s trees and make fine companions when tethered to a sturdy string, although they do tend to wheeze loudly on a continual basis. The Tentacles are fond of Land Octopi (Cephalopod terranius) who, in the wild, mainly forage among shrubbery for grubs and dropped toffee but on occasion have been known to slither up a tree to help themselves to a plump Airfish or two. This has done little to improve the regard in which the Fins hold them, if such a thing were even possible.
Taking her daily constitutional along the promenade with her dapper octopus Trilby in tow, Lady Litmus casts a defiant glare in Monsieur Pompadour’s direction. Relations between the neighbors have been strained ever since the Lady was overheard calling Monsieur “a puffed-up poofter”, which truth be told, represents a remarkably apt description. Besides, she was only responding to his overheard complaint about Tentacles and their pets “sliming up the city streets”- the nerve! Especially since everyone knows that the good Monsieur’s Airfish, Chouette, wheezes louder than a barking spider. Ah, the election year will be a long one indeed for everyone except, of course for the town’s cats. They are firmly bipartisan and just wait patiently until someone turns their head at the right moment and a delicious snack can be had.

This collage depicts the town of Poissons Partout and a few of its inhabitants and is executed on an antiqued, handpainted, stretched canvas using painstakingly hand printed, handcut and hand assembled vintage images and is accented with Dresden trim, black grosgrain ribbon, string, and brass rivets .
This original artwork and story are copyright Ramona Szczerba 2011. Copyright to this material is in no way transferable with the sale of this item. The buyer is not entitled to any reproduction rights – neither image nor story can be reproduced without my express written permission. Thanks!