My Inspirations

I am constantly inspired by the beauty and wonder of the natural world around us.  Everything we see has size, shape, color, texture and symmetry.  Have you ever noticed that the five-point pattern found in sea stars and sand dollars is repeated in many of the flowers found in nature?  Have you ever stumbled upon a stone or a piece of driftwood that resembles another life form?  Our world is filled with surprises just waiting to be discovered.

As a child, I remember viewing the earth from an airplane and imagining that this is how it must appear to a giant standing tall.  He would see cars as ants and riverbeds and their tributaries as branches of a tree.  As I stand on a beach, my eyes are naturally drawn downward and I get the same sensation.

You may notice that some of the photos in my book are metaphors.  Just as words, phrases or things are often used to symbolize something else, random patterns on a beach have appeared to me as other entities.  For example, the pebble person on page 26 reminds me of a princess wearing a crown and a long dress.  The sand design on page 17 appears to be the profile of a duck.

You will also notice that many of the photos appear a bit 'off-color'.  I was amazed to learn that the beaches where I live are comprised of many mineral sand grains that, when sorted by wind and water, become colorful works of art.  Our local sand is made up of shells; clear quartz crystals; pink or cream feldspars; green olivine and epidote; black magnetite and even pink and purple garnet!   The greatest concentrations of color appear around streams flowing to the ocean.

Ah, the ocean!  I'm blown away by the fact that its powerful waters, fierce enough to erode whole headlands, can also leave our beaches blessed with delicate patterns and designs as the tide ebbs each day.  In cahoots with this unimaginable creative process, tiny ocean creatures living beneath the sand inadvertently help as they scurry around hunting for food morsels or a safer place to hide.  Nature's beach palette is full for a time and then the slate is wiped clean as the tide floods in again.  Art, in its finest form, is fleeting!