Side by Side

 Because life can be complicated and challenging, I use the sky diver's adage: "Look where you want to land" as my guide. It is why I focus and often refocus on the pleasure and beauty of life. It is the positive essence of this focus that I hope to relate.

When I visit the gulf (minutes from my home), I often take photos while sitting in a beach chair. I capture the shot from a low angle rather than an eye-to-eye perspective because I find it more exciting and out of the ordinary.

I use the photos as a beginning inspiration and most often change - well pretty much everything by the time the painting is complete. I changed the color and value of their legs to blend with the sand and shifted their bathing suit colors to harmonize with the water. I added some trees in the background and then created a horizontal line along the shore.  The painting seems to dictate what it wants—a bright blue square along the right edge of the picture. Fine, I tell myself, none of it has to make sense; it only has to feel right.