Inspired by British artist Graham Timmons, The Girl in the Red Dress metaphorically addresses my love of coastal scenes. I think you can see from the painting that often white space left unpainted makes the painting sparkle with anticipation. As anyone knows who's lived on or near a beach, standing peering towards the horizon with the wind blowing somehow releases the mind to ponder. Here the strategic placement of the young woman standing watching the horizon begins to transport the viewer to that place within the mind.

A tiny painting often provides just the right avenue for such a scene. I've always loved small intricate little paintings. Not only do they make you get down closely to look at them but in the process you eliminate all peripheral visual input and you enter the scene. That happens when you paint too. I often have to squint to paint little scenes and as one of my professional acquaintances has often told me 'put the one eye on it'.

This little 3" x 5" painting provided me a chance to play with the subtleties of dune reflections. I've always noticed that the shadow parts of sand dunes really appear to be blue. Since its such a almost unnoticeable effect in the field its never dawned on me to use the color to define one. Here I think it worked well.