A Wave On the Sand
Waves of water in motion
Powerful, gentle, rolling, crashing, sweet, salty waves engaged my heart for hours on a beach in Roatan last month. The waves that day moved within the ocean’s space and the tide’s rhythm contently. They were safe to swim in. I considered how the constant motion of the ocean is contained when waves on the sand reach their natural limits. Watching the beautiful conflict of rolling water breaking with a crash, and melting back soothingly into the ocean was mesmerizing. The movement stilled me with a calm rhythm that healed.
Sand is the stuff of the beach
A soft landing pad for the waves, sand sticks to my wet skin when I walk in it making warm and soft cradles for my footprints. The soles of my feet do not know that the sand is actually hard rock, brittle shells, and sharp coral broken into small fragments called grains. Walking barefoot on coral and rock would normally bring pain. My husband found this out when he stepped on a sharp coral while we were in Belize and needed three stitches on the bottom of his foot. It is still healing and we were both surprised at how large a cut he had from the encounter. But, here, on this sandy beach, on this beautiful day, the grains of hard rock and sharp shells and coral, broken so small they are soft to step on, welcome bare-footed travelers without malice. The sand supported me.
I don’t like math much so I didn’t waste any time considering how many grains of sand there are on all the beaches of the world. If you like math, I found a wild estimate by asking Alexa.
Earth’s beaches contain roughly 5,000 billion billion-aka, 5 sextillion-grains of sand. We’ve now estimated that there are about 8,000,000,000 equal to 8×10^9 grains of sand per cubic meter of beach, and that the Earth contains roughly 700,000,000,000 equal to 7×10^11 cubic meters of beach.
Alexa
That does not even include the sand in deserts or on the bottom of the ocean. It’s mind-boggling, and some may find that stuff interesting, but I’m an artist and would much rather tell you how all that wonderful sand inspired this painting.
A Wave On the Sand Painting
Considering the breaking waves, and the broken pieces of hard rock made into soft sand, I also observed how the blues in front of me were also separated into sky and water, deep and shallow. How the light reflected differently on the wet sand and the water along the horizon or next to a boat also seemed broken into dazzling pieces of color and diamonds. The sand in shadow is almost blue and purple, while the sand in the sun is dazzling white. Sand magnified under a microscope reveals even more colors and a stunning array of shapes and forms. I wanted to put the ” knowing” of that into the painting as well with broken brush strokes loaded with color.
The life-giving light and the broken beauty of the ocean inspired me to paint this piece. I loved it all and wanted to capture how a place that was broken to pieces actually made me feel so whole and connected to something bigger than myself.
To see a World in a Grain of Sand, And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, And Eternity in an hour,
From Auguries of Innocence by William Blake
William Blake wrote what my heart spoke to me that day. The beauty, power, and delicacy of the waves and the sand drew me to consider the Creator of it all with curiosity and wonder. That is what I wanted to explore as I created this painting.
If you have been to the beach lately, I would love you to share what about your experience there that you connected with most. I am planning on painting more pieces within this theme and would love to hear from you. Check out more art that is available for sale here.
