The Joy of Beaches in Winter

Christmas at the beach-a California tradition.

Big storms sweep in from the west and huge tides bring in piles of tangled kelp and other beach debris.

The impossibly tangled piles buzz with Kelp Flies.

The Kelp’s gas bladders keep the long stem or stipes, floating upright in the water.

Northern California beaches are not known for shells but there are dense mussel beds and those shells are easy to find.  This sketch includes a scrap of Abalone shell, fish spine bones and crab claws.

I love collecting this sort of beach debris for my Beach Portraits.

And then there are the Harbor Seals, who haul themselves up to nap on the sunny rocks.

And sometimes there are the husbands, who nap anywhere they like.

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Composing a Beach Portrait

My dog ran right past this half buried shell, but I saw an eye staring back at me.

It is rather large, so the head will have to be in a comparable scale.

A  20′ piece of stranded kelp, complete with some “hair” and even a goatee, becomes the head and chest.

Despite the confusing goatee, this is a female figure.  She gets some extra hair in a kelp strand bonnet and kelp pod breasts belong in this expansive chest.

Now I begin to add some facial features and ear ornaments.

Remember the 1st shell? It looked a little dead so I’m adding this stranded jelly.

It fits perfectly.

The future’s so bright she has to wear shades!

Her nose and mouth needed attention. A gleaming mussel shell became an important nose, and a delicate crab’s claw, tiny shell and folded seaweed pinked up her mouth.

Normally I incorporate a lot of beach trash in my portraits, and cart it away when I’m done, but this beach was squeaky clean. I found just two tiny shards of plastic to create the bridge and top bar of her sunglasses.

I searched the beach for a few more embellishments to add.

I add a single feather to her hairdo and I think she is now complete.

Next time you find yourself on a beach, try one!

If you enjoyed this post, please  follow me here: Ashley Wolff Art on Facebook, my webpage , my Etsy shop, or Instagram. You can follow the blog by hitting the “follow blog” button at the top of the sidebar.