At the Sea-Side
By Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850–1894
When I was down beside the sea
A wooden spade they gave to me
To dig the sandy shore.
My holes were empty like a cup
In every hole the sea came up
Till it could come no more.
I was feeling under the influence of a warm summer afternoon at the shore, and dreamed I was disguised as the water, shells and creatures all around me.
This is the second seasonal self portrait of a series. My first was of spring.
We had a wild ride with hurricane Irene here on the east coast this weekend. Time to dry out now!
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August 29, 2011
heidialdin
12 responses to “By the Sea”
Indigene
August 29th, 2011 at 07:50
Absolutely beautiful!
Teresa Dresden
August 29th, 2011 at 14:57
What a wonderful disguise. I love the ocean so I would enjoy seeing what this was like. Excellent illustration.
Congrats on making it through the storm. I live near the Gulf Coast and have been through a couple of hurricanes, so I know what it is like.
roberto
August 29th, 2011 at 15:53
Hey!!!! this is very good!!!
Really clever!
Curious Art
August 29th, 2011 at 18:42
It always makes me happy when people remember the childhood classics like Stevenson. And your watery self-portrait is very cool, reminds me of Arcimboldo!
Abby
August 29th, 2011 at 19:29
This is great, I love the composition and colors! Hope you have smooth sailing now, after Irene!
Kerry Schofield
August 29th, 2011 at 20:22
This is lovely and imaginative. I especially like the small shrimp as I have drawn one myself and mean to make a collage of it sometime. Sorry you had to brave the storm. I live in Florida and was glad to miss it this time! But this does remind me so much of our beautiful Gulf Coast, which is just down the road from where I live in St. Petersburg.
Spiral.teacups
August 30th, 2011 at 07:27
beautiful, I can smell the sea, love your imagination, I like the poem too,
sarah melling
August 31st, 2011 at 12:59
What a lovely concept and a lovely piece. It must have taken a lot of planning to decide on which elements went where!
jomcmullan
September 1st, 2011 at 12:26
Great idea and lovely illustration!
Linda Hensley
September 5th, 2011 at 08:04
I just love RLS
I hope you’ve dried out after the storm. Wonderful self portrait. Shrimp eyes and fish lips for some reason have never occured to me when I’m painting, but it works!
Bjørg Nina
September 5th, 2011 at 15:44
Heisann! Artistic and creative ;:OD)
andrew finnie
September 5th, 2011 at 21:08
Hey there! Sorry I missed this ugh
That blue sings, doesn’t it, the way you have arranged the elements just adds so much interest, eh? It;s good to see how you are extrapolating from the vegie head man, and taking it several steps and making it your own