Driftwood, Beach 69
the grey sentinels at the ocean’s edge
The locals call the beach fronting Waialea Bay as Beach 69 because the roadside telephone pole closest to the beach was numbered 69. Kiawe trees (a variety of mesquite brought to Hawaii from South America in the early 1800s) shade and shelter much of the beach here. The trees give the beach a more natural ambience than, say, at the state park just north of the bay. Amazingly, these tall trees grow with their roots firmly embedded into salt water and sand. They offer shade, windbreak from the blowing winter winds, and sturdy branches to hang a hammock.
The driftwood section I drew here may not even be driftwood — more likely the remnant of a tree trunk that the wind and salt have weathered into this magnificent sculpture. But I found its shape and contours fascinating.
For this piece, I used both soft and oil pastels: a rough undercoat of Sennelier L’ecu pastels, followed by a coat of varnish/fixative, then oil pastels (to heighten the relief and pop the blue water hues), and then a final coat of fixative. Yet despite all the various additional layers, the piece lets the rough texture of the paper come through.
Inspiration: Waialea Beach, Big Island, Hawaii
