In 1963 a big storm again damaged much of Surfside (see Surfside, California - 1956) and part of Sunset Beach. My mom had recently given me a set of oil pastels, and I liked their tendency to lay down a lot of heavy color. In the drawing below, I imagined being in the already wrecked living room of a doomed house in Surfside, just as a nasty green wave was about to clobber it! I remember doing another one just like it and giving it to a girl I had a crush on. She politely accepted the drawing, but now I wonder what she might have thought...
Surfside House and Big Wave
1963, oil pastel, 8" x 10"
I’ve always been attracted to the protective shelter of a house, yet in my paintings, I usually place a house only a few feet from the ocean, on a low sand beach, making it a tenuous situation at best. The houses are old, proving they have weathered the situation for many years in spite of the odds.
I guess that over the years I have sublimated my style to reduce the look of disaster, but there are still hints of a real possibility that things might be changing soon. The beach is sunny, but the sky is changing and the waves are getting closer. The cat is (still) unaware, and the items on the floor indicate other likely narratives!
Red Doors and Storm II
1998, watercolor, 21" x 29"
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