Immersed Images - Tasha Waller

Pete and I had a great weekend diving in Bicheno with James and Ed. The weather was perfect for diving and the visibility did not disappoint. We dived the Golden Bombies and The Hairy Wall in the Governor Island marine park and the Guinea Pig which is a few kms south of Bicheno.

🌟Coming this November…..ABOVE & BELOW
Very excited to announce I have joined forces with fellow colour pencil artist for our first exhibition. A collection of Tasmanian wildlife drawings.



👉🏻SOCIAL gallery in
👉🏻 open daily, 6-18 November.

All framed drawings and limited edition fine art prints will be for sale. A portion of the sales will go towards supporting local conservation organisations:

First dive back in Tassie waters yesterday at Mistaken Cape and the Troy D at Maria Island. It was a bit of a shock to the system, going from 29 degree tropical waters to 11 degree Tassie winter water 🥶
We had a really nice dive at Mistaken Cape. From 25-35m the rocks and canyon walls are covered with sea whips, sponges and yellow zoanthids. There were a few of the long spined sea urchins starting to get down to those depths and munch the rocks clean which is so devasting to see.

The diving is now over :( Here are some photos from the last two days including a night dive. Lots of frogfish including a very small baby hairy frogfish.
Off home tomorrow, back to the cold Tassie winter.

The last two days were spent diving at Sipadan. Reefs and large schools of Jacks.

Today was all about the small stuff so it was a good chance to work on my snooting. So much easier said than done.

Si Amil diving today. Mostly macro photos today.

On holidays in Borneo diving at Sipadan and Mabul.
It was a very long journey getting here, over 26 hours of travelling by plane, bus and boat. Straight into the diving with 10 dives after the first 3 days of diving.

World Ocean Day 🌊

The purpose of the Day is to inform the public of the impact of human actions on the ocean, develop a worldwide movement of citizens for the ocean, and mobilize and unite the world's population around the sustainable management of the world's ocean.

Here are a few images of the amazing world in the ocean right here in Southern Tasmania. A world worth protecting ❤️

It’s not often I step outside of my comfort zone. I was asked awhile back if I could draw a portrait of Mandy and Lola which was a gift for Mandy. Never having drawn a person before I was very hesitant and almost said no to the commission. I pushed through my insecurities and took on the challenge.
I was happy with what I accomplished and Mandy was delighted with her portrait. To make this piece even more special it was selected as a finalist in the ‘Portraits’ competition and awarded an Artists Recognition award. This piece will now be published in the US based art magazine and all their online platforms.
Sometimes it really pays off to push the boundaries 😊

Really excited to be working on this little guy. The blue ringed octopus is small in size (12-22cm) but has a deadly bite. Their venom contains a potent neurotoxin that can kill a human in 20 minutes.
These octopus like to live in shallow rock pools and reefs. If you come across one, as cute as it may be, please do not pick it up.

Thanks to Sammy Glenn Dives for allowing me to use his amazing image of this blue ringed octopus.
This drawing will be added to my collection of Tasmanian marine animals which will be on display later this year.
Colour pencils on drafting film (42 x 60cm)

Today is endangered species day. Here are 5 endangered species found in Australia, 4 being right here in Tassie.

What an amazing night sky we had last night. The whole sky was lit up with the Aurora Australis. Pete and I were so lucky we saw it, I just happened to see a post from a friend on FB before going to bed which made me have a look out side. I am not sure if we saw it at its peak, but what we saw was pretty incredible.

A great night for a night dive last night. There's a great little spot in the Tinderbox Marine Reserve which comes alive with feeding Southern Basket Stars at night. So many shapes, sizes and patterns to see.

The rufous-bellied pademelon (Thylogale billardierii) are the smallest members of the kangaroo and wallaby family.
The name Pademelon, is derived from an aboriginal or native Australian term for ‘small kangaroo from the forest’.
The rufous-bellied pademelon is now extinct on mainland Australia but is still abundant in Tasmania.
This is the last drawing in the Tassie mammals collection, a total of eight drawings. All can be seen in an exhibition coming up later in the year.
Colour pencil drawing on A2 drafting film. The reference image was captured by myself.

Two magnificent dives today at The Monument off Cape Hauy, Tasman Peninsula. Beautiful blue water, plenty of fish (too many sometimes as they got in the way when taking photos 😆) colourful sponges and corals.
Thanks for running a live boat Pete and thanks to Catherine and Garry for joining me on the dives.

A very happy momma with her baby. Wish I had capture these two before I had started my other Pademelon drawing. Oh well, I may just have to draw another :) These two visit everyday at home, so I am sure I will be seeing more of them.

No diving for me today 🥹 as much as I wanted to go I knew it was best to give it a miss and rest my back which I twinged a couple of days ago.
So when I am not diving what do I do? Draw of course 😁
This is the last piece in my Tassie mammals collection. It wouldn’t be complete without a pademelon. I photographed this one while we were camping at Darwin Dam last year.

Another beautiful deep dive at The Sisters out from Eaglehawk Neck. I can’t get enough of these deep dives.

I am now taking bookings for wildlife and pet portrait commissions. Feel free to message me to discuss what you are looking for and a price.

Happy Easter Everyone!
What a great day out on and in the water. We headed out to the Hippolytes and found the Needles. A pinnacle which rises from 50-5m under water. It is located in-between the large and small Hippolytes. The Needles was responsible for sinking the SS Nord back on the 7th November 1915. This was a beautiful dive, full of colour and fish.
Our second dive was in and around Patterson's Arch.

This gorgeous little Twany Frogmouth is enjoying the sunshine on the balcony at work this morning 🥰

A few shots from Sunday's dives at the Three Sisters and Deep Glen Bay, Eaglehawk Neck.

Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)
Colour pencils on drafting film A2.
Reference image from Adobe Stock.

Devil Facts:
-Named for their ferocious appearance and behaviour
-they are the largest carnivorous marsupial
-their bites can crush bone
-they sleep inside their prey
-a new born Joey is the size of a grain of rice
-they yawn when confronted
-they are endangered

Really happy my artwork has been awarded a Artistic Recognition Award by
Hundreds of amazing entries were received from around the world and to be a finalist and receive an award is amazing to say the least.
Congratulations to the top 3 winners and all the other award recipients which can all be seen in the next issue of the magazine.

Southern Rock Lobster
Colour pencil drawing on A2 drafting film.
I prefer to only take photos of these prehistoric looking crustaceans. It is always great to see them wondering out and about in marine reserves. This one was photographed in the Tinderbox Marine Reserve, Southern Tasmania.

Been working away on a new drawing, a Southern Rock Lobster. I have gone back to using my favourite surface, drafting film. It allows me to achieve the fine detail which is certainly required for this particular piece. I was a little daunted at the start, but now I am really enjoying spending time on this piece. Still a long way to go with all those legs, but it will be worth it in the end.
You may ask “what’s with all the tape?” This keeps the film clean from pencil dust and smudging.
Polychromos pencils on A2 drafting film.
Reference photo is my own.

A great day out for the first dive of 2024. It's not very often the weather allows us to head out to the Hippolyte Rocks, located 4km offshore from the east coast of Tasman Peninsula. Beautiful clear blue water and lots of colour down at 40-45m. Unfortunately the long spine sea urchins have created a lot of rock barrens down to 30m.
Our second dive was at Cathedral Caves in Waterfall Bay. Another nice dive, but the water clarity was not a good. There was a lot of algae in the water including the pink bioluminescence algae. This would make a fantastic night dive though.
A great day with hopefully many more to follow.

A commission I completed late last year which was gifted at Christmas. It's now safe to show this completed piece of Leo. Colour pencils on pastelmat, A3.