Beach Day

Beach Day, mixed media on canvas, 10”x10”

I still keep coming up with ideas I wish I had thought of for the 2011 Project.  This is one of those examples.  I did use some sandpaper in one of the pieces, but I hadn’t thought of encrusting the edges of the canvas in sand as I did with this piece for my upcoming installation.

I added the sand and some sandpaper because I knew that Beach Day needed more than vintage postcards of beach scenes.  The cards have beach scenes from Florida to California with a heavy dose of Cape Cod including Kalmus Beach.  Kalmus is a beach I grew up near in Hyannis, named for Herbert Kalmus who donated the land.  He was also the inventor of Technicolor.  While a motion picture film process, where would the sky in old postcards be without the influence of Technicolor?  Beach Day itself refers to a certain type of summer day, when the weather is just right, and it’s a perfect time to go to the beach.  If you live near a beach, you know….

Prints of this piece are available from Society 6.

November 26, 2011 – Calm at Limantour

There is something special about Limantour Beach. It’s a quiet place on the southern side of the Point Reyes Peninsula. It is never really crowded and is not the most popular spot at the National Seashore. Yet I often see this same vista I used for the 2011 Project painted by other artists. I have done other Limantour paintings myself. To be sure it’s a nice place, but it is not the most spectacular or scenic California beach. Yet, some of us are still drawn back over and over.

It’s a calm place. It’s a gentle drive from Inverness up and over the hills and on a road that ends on a bluff overlooking Drakes Bay. From there you walk down a trail crossing a marsh. The trail ends at an opening in the dunes and leads to the wide-open beach. I can’t say exactly what it is, but a few hours at Limantour can always cure what ails you.

Over the years, many people have described my art as calming. I think I know why I always go back to Limantour.

September 15, 2011 – The Giant Baby Tried to Warn Them

Everyone was having a great time on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. The Giant Baby tried to warn everyone, but it was too late.

July 21, 2011 – Beach Day

It’s in the air, today is a fog free, sunny summer day and you can feel the Pacific in the breeze that’s blown 4 miles over Golden gate Park to reach my neighborhood. It just feels like a beach day. If you live near a beach, any beach, you know the feeling. I love that summery feel today. That said, I did not get to the beach.