One of the best parts of creating art is the process of "Beachcombing" for supplies. Last Sunday was cold, blustery, and rainy, but I was hell bent on heading out since I needed some driftwood to finish my "Silly Seagulls" for the spring art shows.
I decided to venture to a neighboring town for my treasures and chose Haven Beach in Mathews county, Virginia. For 8 years I owned a Bay front cottage on nearby Gwynn's Island and though I got buckets of seaglass right off my own beach, this little county owned public beach seems to always have nice oyster shells and driftwood after Nor'easter's.
There is two sides to Haven beach and one bares the brunt more than the other during storms. You can see in the photos that one side looks peaceful with beautiful white sand and on the other side of the jetty, the beach looks like a war zone today with seaweed and shell debris scattered throughout. There was a lot of beach debris to sift through as I walked the "wrack line" which is where all the goodies and gross stuff piles up at high tide. This is usually where I find some nice driftwood, shells, seaglass or sometimes turtle bones.
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I limited my haul to two buckets, giving my husband "both" of them to carry to the car.
Once I get my driftwood home, I soak it in some bleach or saltwater and soap to clean them up a bit more. Then, I let them dry in the sun and shake any sand out of the crevices. The real magic happens when I attach my fused glass Silly Seagulls and add a tiny Periwinkle shell to my pieces. The periwinkles wash up on my own personal beach in White Stone Va. As you can see in the picture below of my beach, an oyster float buoy washed up from the oyster farm around Windmill Point that that morning. Ya never know what's gonna wash up next.
The Final product! Silly Seagulls on Driftwood!
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