Mind Games, Original

I live ten minutes from the beach. (I know, poor me). But when I have time, I go take a walk. These shells are everywhere. They literally make up the sand at the part of the beach I go to most often. It's a place (a parking lot) called Mickler's Landing in Ponte Vedra Beach, a suburb of Jacksonville, FL. I've been going to this place since I was five. My mom was a teacher, so she had summer's off. Every day (I'm not exaggerating), every single day of summer we would load up the minivan with boogie boards and pb&j's and head out to Mickler's. There was a tiny one lane road with nothing but trees on one side and cornfields on the other that would take us there. It was only 45 minutes, but it felt like it took three hours (especially on the way home with sand all up in our swimsuits).

Mickler's was not easy on feet either. These little shells (called coquina clams) are fragile enough to break easy, but once broken, sturdy enough to stab your feet with every step you take. You get used to it, but it's definitely painful at first. When they have clams living in them, they live in the shallow tide, and when the tide goes out, they bury themselves in the sand. My sister and I used to dig up as many as we could when they'd do this. And when they don't have clams in them, the shells are sometimes still connected and look very symmetrical at first. But if you look for more than a second, they're clearly not. I called this piece mind games because of the fake symmetry. Also because it takes me back to that time when we thought they were cooler than they were. Did you know that if you find them still attached, you can wish on them.

These shells have watched me from the age of five grow into the person I am today, have kids myself that love to hunt for them, and always come back to walk the beach with them again and again. This 24"x18"piece was drawn with 66 different colored pencils on hot pressed watercolor paper. It is framed with UV protective glass and has a great story to go with it. This piece is a perfect gift for someone you love or addition to your workplace or home.