Sand Patterns on the Bayside
24x30"
Acrylic on canvas
Currently on view at Ellison Center for the Arts, Duxbury
Duxbury Art Association's Summer Member Show
"Art by the Bay"
Now through September 12, 2025
Roll over image to see fine detail.
If you are familiar with Cape Cod, you know that the beaches on the bayside have a special characteristic: as the tide pulls away from the beach, it leaves these wonderful patterns of ridges in the sand. This is seen on other beaches around the world, too, but it is one of those recognizable features of the Cape's bayside. Folks who know these beaches have instantly recognized this, and ask if it's a "bayside" painting.
At Chapin Memorial Beach in Dennis, where this piece is painted from, folks love to walk their dogs on the long flat beach. This particular seascape changes very quickly as the tide pulls and pushes itself out and in; you have to pay attention to what nature is doing around you, or you could get trapped on a sandbar as the tide comes in!
I remember times from my childhood on beaches, playing in shallow tidal pools with my little brother. Even then, I was quietly studying the reverse 'waves' that water waves impressed into the pliable sand... not only in awe of the big ocean's power, but also the tiny, intricate, calligraphic details it seemed to 'draw' in the sand.