The Way WAY back machine

 When I first read the challenge, the first thing that came to mind was my long fantasized alternate career, that of a paleontologist.  The adventures of the early fossil hunters really captured my imagination when I was little, and the sight of fossilized remains brings an almost hallucinogenic sense of time travel.

Which of course led to the thought, why not time travel?
After all, Kate promises we won't get hurt!
I'd love to go WAY back, 300 million years ago, long long before the age of the dinosaurs, to explore paleozoic earth in the Devonian era.
Although life had begun to creep out onto land, the seas were full of amazing creatures- gigantic armored fish, trilobites of incredible diversity, and ammonites of all sizes teemed.
Crinoids, which I have depicted here, had evolved earlier, but reached incredible dimensions- the longest stem found to date is 130 feet long!

Crinoids, 18x18"

Crinoids were incredibly abundant, in fact there are entire limestone beds made up of their fossils.

They are even found on top of our Sandia Mountains, in smooth grey rock that has been pushed to 10.000 feet above sea level over the eons.

This piece was made on a piece of silk that was painted, then flour paste resist coated.

The fossils were sketched freehand, then stitched, and finally painted.

Thanks so much Kate for a thought provoking challenge!