Beach Art

I spent the summer on different beaches: the Pacific coast of Northern California, the Maggia river in Switzerland and our home beaches of East Hampton.  Everywhere there is art on display.  Not by famous artists but by common people that pick up stuff from the beach and put it together to make a “work of art”.  It is playful.  It also is testament to the beauty of nature.  Often not much is needed to beautify the scene.  Other times the objects are small (a pebble), or common (litter), or unnoticed (drift wood) and the artist wants to draw attention to their unique beauty.   Here are some specimens I found.

Beach Dragon (Arcata CA)

Decorated Roots (East Hampton NY)

Beach Wood and Iron (Maggia Tal)

Display (Maggia Tal)

Elephant Seal, Big Sur (CA) Art? Why not?

Mosaics in Arcata

This is my 2nd contribution in regard to our summer motorcycle trip which brought us up through the mountains from San Diego to Arcata (via Sequoia National Park, Yosemite National Park, Lake Tahoe, Lassen Volcanic National Park).  Arcata is on the Pacific Ocean and home to Humboldt State Univ.   It is a college town.  We stayed with a good friend for 2 days.  Time to clean and rest up and to visit Laurel Skye’s “SkyeLab“!  Laurel is a mosaic artist.  She teaches across the country (and even in Italy), writes books on her art form, and uses her home as a studio or “lab”.  She also sells mosaic supplies.  She generously invites interested folks to visit and that is what we did!

on the porch

Stool

Supplies

Toilet bowl tiled with copper pennies

Mosaic plates (some are used for light switch covers)

The entire house is decorated with mosaics, the porch, the front door, the floors, the walls, chairs, tables, the garden, the kitchen, the bathtub and even the toilet bowl!  Here are some pictures, but be sure to visit her own website where you will see a mosaic decorated mandolin and a trumpet!  There are lots of ideas on how to use mosaics to decorate your own home.  Also, you should check out some of the other artists featured on mosaicartsource.com.

I am truly amazed at the many different styles and the expressive nature of some of the art work.