Saturday, August 22, 2009

Lucky Enough

"If you're lucky enough to live at the beach, you're lucky enough!"

Who coined that pithy little platitude, anyway? I searched online to see if I could discover its author. I discovered that the words "live at the beach" ar
e often interchanged with other phrases, but I was unable to discover the originator of this phrase. At any rate, it sums up the way I feel about my life right now. I live at the beach, therefore I'm lucky enough! In some ways I feel as though I've spent my whole life trying to get here. I think I was 8 the first time I saw the ocean, and even though I've been water phobic from birth, I was enthralled with the sea and have been ever since.

A few years ago, we were able to make the beach our second home and live here part time and just this past November it became our full time residence and I feel I've finally come home.

The sea has been an inspiration to four new works which I've recently complete
d. I call them my "Sea Samples." They are small, 4"x4", on museum profile canvases. They can either be hung on a wall or set on shelves or table tops. I think they look like chunky little "core samples" of the ocean.

I wish I could honestly say that the shells and sea creatures used in these pieces were found by me on the beach, but I can't. The shore here is pretty hard and it's rare to find shells that haven't been broken in the surf. One day, though, I was "lucky enough" to find two beautiful star fish; whole and intact. That was indeed a rare find on our beaches here. Every once in awhile I find great specimens of sea glass, but that's rare as well. But the perfect little items you see here were purchased either in a craft store or online. The "netting" by the way, is cheesecloth. Cheesecloth is a great material which no mixed media artist should be without.

On a different subject, I
want to thank all of you who have recently emailed me and congratulated me on the creation of this site. Some of you have been asking how to go about creating a blog. I highly recommend the new book by Tara Frey, "Blogging for Bliss", which is listed in the side bar here. It's a great "how to" on creating a blog. The book is concisely written, well organized and beautifully illustrated. And it's geared to "creative" types who want to share their creations and a bit of their lives with others.

So, that's all for now. Thanks for visiting and please tell me what it is that makes you feel "lucky enough!"

3 comments:

risa said...

Love those new works! Makes me want to head to my studio and get busy! I love working on those small canvases. If you live anywhere near a Dick Blick, they have an incredible canvas sale going on now. I think you can also check it out online. I'm planning to buy a bunch of 6x6's, 8x8's... No, I don't work for Dick Blick, but if you're like me, you get excited about buying canvas! Thanks for sharing!

Susan Williamson said...

Gorgeous work!!! You have such a gift for color and the texture you incorporate along with it makes your work sing. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

I love your sea pictures as well - beautiful! And I appreciate your tip on the blog book (your blog is very attractive). I have no plans for a blog, but that is nice info to have in case it's needed.