Life's a Beach

...and I am on it and I love it. I could only smile and chuckle to myself as I sat on the jetty at Ponce Inlet watching the surf roll in and the beach fade into the distance. The weather forecast for South Dakota called for 1 to 2 feet (yes feet!) of snow in the western part of the state with winds approaching 100 (yes 100!) miles per hour! The late March snow storm was supposed to roll east across the state and bring rain, snow, cold and wind to my side of South Dakota as well. Sitting on the warm rocks along the jetty, listening to the rolling waves beneath my feet and watching the surfers ride the white crests of foam in the distance made the mid-western storm seem alien to me. I have discovered that the ocean, time and distance have a strange relationship to one another. Minutes, hours and even days can be lost to, spent on or simply consumed by the ocean. The shear size of the ocean makes all things relative. It feels similar to the vast open spaces that this flat-lander calls home, yet the ocean eats up distance like no South Dakota prairie or wheat field ever could. Countless waves roll across the water endlessly, yet out of this endlessness will appear a small flock of pelicans or gulls. They will materialize out of nowhere, pass before my eyes, and then fade into the distance as fast as they appeared.

...I spent 4 days at a beach near Venice after my last show in Jupiter. There I discovered that becoming a full time beach bum is a career worth pursuing. My day on the beach would start around mid-morning. I would first have to thread my way through the huddles of shark’s teeth seeking tourists near the public beach. After I had dodged most of the down turned heads I would run several miles up the beach, almost to the next public beach, but not into the next beach’s huddling masses. There I would cool off in the Gulf and proceed to do my own version of the Shark’s Tooth Shuffle in relative privacy. I would either walk along the surf’s edge and try to grab the occasional tooth before it rolled back into the deeper water or simply squat in the surf and wait for the water to do the work and bring the teeth to me. I found that both approaches had their benefits. Shuffling allowed you to cover more ground, and in theory allowed you to see more teeth,...but you had to be constantly racing ahead to new virgin territory before the next guy got there. Squatting assured that any new teeth that washed ashore directly around you were yours and yours only...but only if you defended your area of squat from any interlopers. After 4 days of using both techniques extensively, I can say with certainty that dumb luck is the best and most reliable approach to employe when looking for ancient shark’s teeth...and beer. After what were apparently several hours or even whole afternoons of squatting or shuffling, I would run back down the beach, once again cool off in the Gulf, and then locate my cooler of beach bum food stuffs. My small cooler contained one bottle of water, smelly blue cheese, dry Italian sausage, crusty bread...and two ice cold beers! My next hours were spent emptying the cooler, working on my tan, watching the tourists shuffling by and planning out my next days menu...tough work if you can get it.

...my zip-lock bag is only partially filled with those ancient shark’s teeth and the top of my head is now very tan from the days on that beach. My mind’s eyes is filled to overflowing with visions, sounds, smells, tastes and textures of those 4 days. Enough for a life time? No, only a beginning...a beach bum’s job is never done.

Florida Show Experiences

I've been in Florida long enough now to do 2 shows, eat plenty of wonderful sea food, get used to the idea of flip-flops being “shoes” and even develop the start of a tan on the top of my head. All in all, it has been an excellent beginning to my Florida adventure.

My first exposure to the Florida show circuit was in the Gulf Coast town of Sarasota just south of Tampa. I was able to stay with some fellow snow-bird artists in Venice who held my hand through my first show...thank you Bob and Ruth! When I got to Venice on Friday afternoon Bob took me to the beach just 10 minutes from the house. We walked along a sand beach listening to the surf and picking up ancient shark's teeth. How cool was that! I found a couple of small teeth and was thrilled. When we returned to the house a boy from next door brought over a whole box full of them, some were several inches long...I felt humbled. He gave me the pick of the box and I added another tooth to my tiny collection.

I was a “newbie” artist at the Sarasota show and the other artists around me took me under their wing, making my first experience very pleasant and enjoyable. The customers were very receptive to my pots, the comments encouraging and the sales were good. My booth was directly across from Barnacle Bill's...thank you God! I had fresh sea food just mere steps away and I ate it both days...the waiters knew me as “that potter across the street”...they delivered! The “winter” weather was spectacular with temps in the 50's in the morning and the 70's in the afternoon. I have discovered that the folks of Florida have a very narrow range of comfort when it comes to temperature. It was either “too cold” or “too hot”. Come on folks, the sun was shining, the temperature was above zero and there was no snow in sight...what more could a South Dakota boy want in February?!

My next show was in Stuart on the Atlantic Coast. The town of Stuart was much like Sarasota in many ways. The main street did feel older, more quaint and much brighter colored. Orange stucco buildings with purple trim, old clapboard tenements with aqua painted siding and lime green accents...they all made me smile. The people were smiling too as they walked by on Saturday morning as I was having breakfast at Maria's. Maria's is an old family restaurant that had just moved locations after 27 years. Saturday morning was their first day open at the new downtown location. I sat outside under the canopy and enjoyed my Greek omelet with goat cheese, rye toast and wonderful strong coffee in the morning sun. I watched Cattle Egrets and Ibis's fly over as I ate in the warm sun...life is good! I also discovered my first Banyan tree. Impressive and awe inspiring is not an apt description. When I was young I climbed trees like any other kid, now I'm an older kid and it was all I could do to keep myself from exploring the huge branches that stretched over my head in all directions. I could have lived in that tree! I had customers tell me there is a road in Stuart that is canopied for a mile with the giant Banyan trees.

The sales in Stuart were consistent with the Sarasota sales and I was happy. The customers remarked on how nice it was to see something new, on the quality of the pots and on how reasonably priced the pots were. People seemed to be spending less on the high-end pieces of art, but still willing to buy lower-end pieces. Other artists I talked to had that same sense. There were some beautiful paintings at this show that reflected the sea and the shore. They had bright vibrant colors and used the intense Florida sunlight in a way that the landscape painters of South Dakota cannot.

My next show will be Jupiter along Juno Beach on the 14th and 15th of March. I have been told the show stretches for almost a mile along the Atlantic Ocean...I can't wait to experience it!