Special Delivery

14" x 18" acrylic on canvas SOLD

During the years when I lived on the west coast, glass balls—Japanese fishing floats—were a real prize to find. The technology changed years ago such that after the 1990s, few are found and any found generally come in during big storms. The thing to do was to know the weather patterns and get yourself out on the beach as soon as there was light, before anyone else. I’ve found only a few, two of which I used as models for this painting. But I've known some expert glass-ball collectors. Two I know have hundreds and hundreds of them, stashed in boxes and under beds. And, of course, anyone who’s lived on the coast, way back when, has stories of the ones that got away. I recall racing to Florencia Bay, on a wet, early morning and seeing a rare rolling-pin glass float on the opposite side of Lost Shoe Creek, just on the edge of the sand cut, where the river slices across the beach. There was no easy way to get to that side without climbing and crawling through dense salal to get upstream to the bridge there, and then race back to the spot. Alas, by the time I got there, my prize had fallen into the fast stream flow and been taken away. I was so disappointed and soaking wet. Still. It was exhilarating!