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The Church by the Sea

Back in January I realized I was thinking about the beach all the time while I was working on my projects.

Nothing soothes me like the seaside, so that's why I picked out sea, surf and sand colors for my crochet blanket. When I improv'ed a landscape for my third mini-quilt, naturally I thought of sunrise on the beach.

Repeating symbols often crop in any any artist's work. M.C. Escher spent his career working out the principles of tessellation. Keith Haring used interlocking bodies in his street art. Dali used melting clocks, ants, crutches and elephants to symbolize different aspects and ideas he wanted to communicate.

I know why the beach keeps showing up in my art. It was a place of sanctuary for me as a child. When I was at the beach I was in my own church, and no one knew. That was where I communed with the universe instead of sitting on a hard wood bench being lectured to in Latin. Because I still feel so safe there, I am never as much myself as I am by the beach.

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