Tuesday, February 16, 2010

I'm in the mood for a trip to the beach

I think I've had enough of the cold winter days and nights for this season. I'm now craving a trip to the beach. In the meantime I'm dreaming of the beach as I take Laure Ferlita's  An Imaginary Visit to the Beach class. It is lots of fun. This starfish page was my first assignment. I wanted to write something on the page but I just couldn't think of much to say.

... then I got sidetracked searching the internet... Eventually I stumbled on several versions of an interesting story about a person and a starfish that I had never heard before. It was a new story to me ... but it has been around a long time and many of you may be familiar with it already. I found that the story quickly became intertwined in my mind with my beach scene. Now whenever I look at my beach painting I start thinking of this special Starfish story and some of the questions it brings up. Where is my starfish? and how can I make a difference? There are numerous versions of the story on the web. Here are a couple of links that I found:
  Wikipedia
  Joel Barker's version and in a short video

5 comments:

bubblemunch said...

Oo - I crave the beach too!

This is such a lovely watercolour and your starfish are beautifully painted - especially the shadows.

lori vliegen said...

i can already tell that your beach journal is going to be as fabulous as your paris journal! i love the story of the starfish.....and you've illustrated it beautifully on the pages of your journal! hugs, :))

Teresa said...

So pretty! You handled the texture in the starfishes well...

I have starfish on the wall in both my office/studio and bathroom (along with odd seashells here and there glued on the bathroom wall!) :-)

Mary Paquet said...

Claire, congratulations on posting on your blog for over a year now. The star fish you painted are lovely and the story is not one I've heard. Thanks for sharing it.

Pat said...

Hi Claire, I too have had my year anniversary this month. Loved your story and painting. I am drawn to the beach and am ready for warmer days.
Hugs
Pat