"If you want to know how much I love you, count the waves." Waves are endless and constant. They ebb and flow no matter what the weather or the season. Sometimes they are hidden under ice or blurred with fog or snow, but they are always present. They are timeless and ancient, mysterious and beautiful.
Living on an island and having the ocean within sight is something I am never really accustomed to, even though I live near the ocean and have it within my sight as I drive to work, when I drive home, and throughout the day when I go about town on business. It is always there in some form, perhaps hidden by everyday life, but always there, moving, swaying to an age old dance. Each time I see the expanse of water stretching into the horizon, I am in awe of its beauty, strength and power. And I am drawn to it, fascinated and inspired by it.
Yesterday, I wandered on Middle Cove beach and without thinking bent to find stones ground smooth by the waves over time and coaxed to reveal their secrets of lines and colour. Wet and cool in my hand, they glistened and felt as if they were alive and telling their story of deep cold water, small fish, giant whales and storms. Those pebbles became a drawing, partially to complete a promised task, partially because there was no choice but to capture them on paper.The ocean made me do it.
Technorati tags: ocean, drawing, Middle Cove, water, waves, beach
4 comments:
Dear Jeanette,
I often have wondered if one lived near the ocean if it would be taken for granted. Apparently you have answered my question.
Stones hold some kind of mysterious power over me, too -- especially those I find near the ocean. One of the things I always do when I'm at the beach (other than sit myself in shade and just stare at the waves for hours) is go for a walk, my eyes intently scouring the sand for glistening rocks.
My most interesting finds, however, were from a parking lot. One stone was a very pale pink while the other was colored orange-red. Both had crystal formations all along their surfaces that made them glitter like jewels in the sun.
Our beach and ocean is so different from yours- no rocks, no smooth stones, only shells and sand. But I saw those kinds of beachfronts when I visited the pacific northwest last month, and I came home with a bag full of stones. All smooth and holdable. They are like our river rock, beaten and smoothed by time.
Our mountain range is smooth like that, weathered by its years. They are soothing in the background of my days.
The ocean always amazes me Beverly.
The shapes and smoothness of beach pebbles is wonderful. They are like miniature works of art in their own right.
Carolinagirl, the mystery and ancient formation of beaches and rocks, sand and water that are constantly shifting is lovely. There are a few expanses of sandy coastline here, but rocks are more the norm and are what I come to expect and come to associate with the northeast. Both have their charms.
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