Painting the Beach

"Lightning Whelk" 6 x 6

When I introduce myself as a visual artist, the first thing I'm always asked is, "What do you paint?"

I'm not sure why I always have to stop and think about this one -- I guess because I live in the moment, and the only answer I immediately come up with is, "whatever I'm thinking about"... But of course, this isn't what they want to know. The answer has to be something, well, visual. Something the person can understand.

So, the real answer is, I paint what's around me -- where I live -- and that's the beach. I paint the shoreline, the marshes, and the creatures that inhabit them. I paint the boats. I paint children playing on the beach and the birds that follow the shoreline in search of their next meal. My subject matter is all around me, because I live at the beach.

I often walk along the shoreline, just like the sandpipers, looking down, searching for my next beach treasure. I find shells and artifacts, seaglass, and chunks of coquina (rock that's made up of sedimentary seashells). I follow the sand.

And then, there it is: I stop and gaze at something at the beach, whether it's the skyline, beachline, a child building a sandcastle, or something at my toes. That's my next painting. My toescapes (what I see at my feet) are among my most popular paintings -- they're all about seeing my world in micro view -- a painting of the sand and shells at my feet.