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watercolour painting of sandpipers

Ariane’s art challenge: Tide

Hello everyone,

I know it’s been too quiet here on my blog and it’s been a bit of a hard adjustment back to Vancouver this month. Basically I found myself with nothing of any value to share.
Therefore I’m so grateful to Ariane for calling the 198th art challenge: Tide.

beach pebbles

I’m a sea girl.
I was born and raised in a land-locked country, (Czech Republic), but my warm holidays were spent on the sea shore in Germany. Then, when we immigrated to Canada, it was to the Pacific and I’ve mostly lived beside the ocean since.

fossilized belemnites

I love my life in Oxfordshire. I love the meadows and forests and fields and especially love the Thames beside us, but I must confess to a tiny bit of land-locked frustration. So when Robbie and I decided to have a mini break at the Jurassic Coast, it was like a coming home for me. Suddenly there was the ocean, there was the tide line with fresh treasures, there was that salty smell that I know so well. I looked around and the first thing that came to mind was, “why would anyone chose to live anywhere else?”

No wonder I took all these rocks, pebbles and fossilized belemnites home to Vancouver.

watercolour painting of sandpipers

For this art challenge I chose a church voluntary with the title Impromptu; partly since our Jurassic Coast trip was also impromptu, but also because of the rhythmic repetition of the notes. Like waves.

I painted three sandpipers hunting for treasures in the tide line…much as we were doing.

watercolour painting of sandpipers

I used the whole two page spread for this because one page just didn’t seem big enough for what I wanted to express.

watercolour painting of sandpipers on ephemera

Pop over to Ariane’s when you have a chance for more artists and their interpretation of our art challenge.

Thank you so much Rosy girl for giving me the push I needed to get out of this melancholy and write a post again.

beach stone

Comments: 15

  • September 24, 2016
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    Morning .. Beautiful V! I have lived near the sea for years. Love it! Nothing beats a stroll on the beach. The smell, sound and feel of sand underfoot. Wonderful images. And I love your impromptu ?

  • September 24, 2016
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    Brava! Perfecto! Heart beating beautiful work! Whatdyamean you had nothing of value to share? Don’t even…don’t even use the words ‘nothing of value’ (ignore your fiesty ego). Just had to say that dear Veronica. Take a photo of your big toe. That is value to share. Okay enough of that rant. Listen, these birds are so fabulous and I’m squealing about the colour of the rocks and the colours of the birds. I can’t say enough of how great these birds are. I had a chuckle about the weight of what you hauled back to Vancouver. Loved this post, N,x

  • September 24, 2016
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    A breathtakingly beautiful post – words, photos, and art. I am also landlocked in the mountains of CO. I have a deep sense of place here, but I take trips to the ocean to rejuvenate that watery side of myself. Wonderful interpretation of the challenge.

  • September 24, 2016
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    I find your enterpretation of Tide very pretty.
    My wife would love this as well as she is a musician.

  • Robert Frank Gasch

    September 24, 2016
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    Good show Veronica!!!

  • September 24, 2016
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    … and you have expressed your feeling so well… searching along the coast line, both birds and human beings. that is a perfect image… your sandpipers are so alive.
    i hope you find your feet back, in vancouver. x n

  • September 25, 2016
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    love it!
    like you i am a collector when near the sea ;^))
    born and raised far from the sea, but like you on holidays there she was!
    and your drawing…. so fine
    boy, do i miss these drawing/art challenges
    xx

  • September 25, 2016
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    such beautiful pictures!

  • September 25, 2016
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    Hi Veronica. Your sand pipers are perfect reminders of how precious sea life is.
    Who can not come home with something from a walk along the ocean?
    You have a fine collection.
    xo

  • September 25, 2016
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    A pleasure to see how your sandpipers really come alive. Love your post! – eric

  • September 25, 2016
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    Dear Veronica,
    your sandpipers…wow! They come alive, so very soulful creatures. Impromptu is such a fitting ground, the rhythm, periodical like waves, you are right. Isn’t live is like a big tide? Ebb and flow, again… and again.
    I was raised in Hamburg and am still living in this Town. It’s a harbour town at the River Elbe, close to the sea: to the Baltic Sea an hour to drive by train and upstream to the Northern Sea a bit longer. But we have the tide of the sea in Hamburg and the smell of it. Home.

    I am so happy, that you’ve painted and written this post for the AC, thank you very much. Love it!
    Ariane. Rose

  • September 26, 2016
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    Oh dear, I can so relate to your land-locked frustration. I am living in a beautiful place right now, the longterm wish s to be close to the sea again. Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn’t, but it is a dream I have. Apart from that, your sandpipers are gorgeous!

  • September 26, 2016
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    i also have lived nearby the sea and i’ve loved it, with all kind of weather….sunny, storm, hot, cold, rain….
    i also love your little sandpipers, they are fun to watch!

  • September 26, 2016
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    Wonderful post, Veronica, and wonderful painting! I totally understand what you mean. I was raised in a land-locked region, too, but at least we had a some reservoires and lakes nearby. Nearly every holiday was spent at the sea, somewhere. I moved into a city which is beautiful, but has no river or bigger sea at all, which I’m totally missing. After being on the Isle now, I’m also wondering why I could ever chose to live in a region that’s not at a sea coast. Well, let’s see, what the future will bring. and by the way, it seems, that some of us had melancholic times in between…

  • September 27, 2016
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    i have to admit i have often been accused of never shutting up … but some days its hard to come up with anything of interest to blather about so i opt to post photos with little to no yakkity-yak

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