Coastal Icons

The coastal icon series is an intimate collection of paintings done on thick canvases, twelve inches square. I paint whatever inspires me that day: a yoga pose on Venice beach, a 1947 Woodie dappled in sunlight, a bicycle rider on the Manhattan Beach Strand, a kid playing in the surf, a surfer waxing his board. Sometimes I am inspired by the perfect light itself, and paint quickly to capture the exact colors. Every tiny increment of time has new meaning, and one single sunset has inspired a dozen paintings.

I was first compelled to paint the Life Guard Towers when I drove up the Pacific Coast Highway in 1996.  I was just off a flight from NYC, moving to Malibu with three daughters under four years of age. My first sketch of a tower was done in the back seat of a cab on my boarding pass.  My husband grew up in the Palisades and spent his boyhood summers meeting friends at Tower 18. (Tower 18 became super important to me later, a story for another time..) The delicate appearance of the diminutive wooden shacks against the backdrop of the big blue Pacific, and the broad sweep of ochre sand, belied their importance. Life Guard Towers became for me not just a symbol of the beach, but literally of saving and protecting lives. 

We are all looking out for each other.

For a painter who is seduced by color and mood, living along the coast, that little dash of architecture against the infinite changes of light in the ocean and sky compelled me to paint and sketch towers hundreds of times.  The Life Guard Towers simply inspire me.  

People like to hang these paintings salon style, all together on the same wall. You collect your favorites over the years and piece them together to form a narrative. Maybe you start with a painting of a PCH sign, add a 1964 convertible, then some surfers sitting by a fire pit. These paintings ask you: What is your California story? And do you know what the ending might be?

All on thick, gallery wrap 12×12 canvases, $400. Ask me about the quantity discount you will receive for telling your story through art.