Tag: shells

Many days have been spent at the wonderful beaches on the North Coast of New South Wales. There have been photos of sea birds, the coast line, waves, rock formations or the fabulous sunrises that we get when the sun rises from the sea. I am sure you have seen lots of this type of photo in many of my previous blogs or other peoples publications.

I am hoping that what I have seen is something that you may have not seen before with photos of the beach or seaside. I often just see something that catches my eye that I find is quite wondrous or perhaps has shape, form or texture that I find interesting.

Want to come to the seaside with me? You won’t need sunscreen, a hat or other sun protective wear but maybe get a cool drink, settle back and let’s go….

Perhaps I should start with the obvious which you probably seen in many photos. Many of Australias beaches the sand is the shoreline but occasionally the beach is rocks. To me the endless rocks are fascinating and to see the colours, forms and textures is unusual. So let’s begin with the rocks, some rough but mostly worn smooth by the sand and water.

The Sand Crabs like to create their own art with shapes, textures and placement of the small balls of sand they excavate from their sandy holes where they wait for a snack to stroll past.

The water has it’s own way of creating art with the way the water flows back to the ocean leaving patterns on the sand. Can you see a fish or maybe a bird in the patterns? What do you see that perhaps I don’t?

Sometimes these patterns include shells to create parallel lines as they look as if they are zooming across the sand.

Shell are another source of wonder at the beach. How many shells have you picked up just to look at their colours and feel their textures?

Even a broken shell can seemingly form its own mini sand dune.

Part of beach life are the things that get washed onto the beach. Sometimes these can be the result of a storm where seaweed has been torn from its anchorage ending up on the beach with its branches resisting the sands intrusion.

Bits and pieces on the sand.that show the life that is on the beach. From the terrestrial to the marine. The leaf from a mangrove, an excavation spread from a hole in the sand and other bits and pieces of marine vegetation. Each has it’s own place on the beach decorating the sand with artistic expression until the incoming tide changes the art installation.

The orange leaf contrasts with the sand and other items that are washed in by the incoming waves.

I love the way the colour of the sea-grass falls away leading to the blackness of the rock.

The interaction of colours and textures between the sea-grass and jellyfish with some bubbles added for more interest.

The entanglement of grasses and other bits of seaweed almost look like a bit of calligraphy. The imprint of some toes add a human element into the abstract art that nature has constructed.

Sometimes the art that can be of natural construct includes the intrusion of humans or in this case, a child whose toy jet ski washed upon the sand. The impact of human detritus cannot be understated on marine life.

Sometimes a simple stick can seem like a stick. Look at the textures and the added colour of the coastal plants makes the stick more than a stick.

Speaking of making a stick more than a stick, it’s time we moved onto the imagination of two people who see possibilities of making life at the beach different. The things we do we leave behind and perhaps someone may smile as they come across the ideas that we enjoy to make together. When we find something on the coast as we walk about the beaches, dunes or the littoral rainforests and vegetated parts of the the hind dunes. The following is the combined effort of the imagination of two people who can see the ridiculous in nature that just needs a bit of enhancement to make the natural world a bit of fun.

We found some driftwood on the sand. The artist said “Look at the little man I found” and placed the stick on the sand. The photographer took a couple of photos and thought there needs to be more. Then the “footprints” were added.

When you walk along the sand and find some pumice that you would like to take home to use, well don’t you make a small basket to carry it in?

We both saw the vegetation beside the track and saw a shape. Add a few other things that were found nearby and a bit of modification, a bit of art was made. Do you see what the artist and the photographer saw?

A grass tree that had died provided a lot of amusement. I hope someone walking the track in the hind dunes had a laugh as much as we did making our hairy friend.

A Pandanus seed, a bit of red seaweed and gales of mirth led to this little bloke being placed in a paperbark tree beside the track.

Did you enjoy having a stroll along the Australian coastline with me?