You travel up the Northern California coast awash in rich, rolling hills peppered with black and white cows. Jagged rock spires protrude from the ocean. The awe of the seashore changing with every tide. Tide pools abundant with sea urchin, tiny crabs and colorful waving anemones. Northern California beaches are a sight to behold.

One cold and windy morning we arrived in the parking lot and head for the beach. A rather plain, sandy, flat beach with few rocks. We felt uninspired by lack of tide pools but decided to venture out anyway, my kids and I began to walk down the long expanse of sand. Soon we noticed the outgoing tide leaving small depressions on the surface of the sand. On further inspection we began to see one sand dollar after another pressed into the sandy shore. A sudden rush came over us, it was like the thrill of an Easter morning. The amount of sand dollars on this beach was incredible. We each spent our day collecting our favorites. As we walked along we chatted about life and planned what we might do with the special mementos given to us by the ocean.

30” x 30” Clay, sand, sand dollars on clay board