Delaware #1

Delaware is a funny shaped little State nestled between Maryland and New Jersey with a bit touching Pennsylvania and a large coast on the Delaware Bay and part of the Atlantic Ocean.  Since it is summer, and I am dreaming of the seashore, I probably will look for some action along the Rehobeth Beach shore to paint.  Google maps for some reason actually travels along the boardwalk there where I can almost smell the sea breeze.  Here is a link to a spot to start your own trip to the beach.

Beach Books

BEACH BOOKS

Nancy Herman

9" x 12"

oil on canvas board

A good book on the beach on a sunny day with nothing to do but relax and live in another world for an hour or two.  It is especially nice when you know that whenever you get too hot you can dive into the ocean and cool off.  This summer in Ocean City the water was warm, the surf calm and every day a sunny one.  Ah....summer!

$250.00

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/nancy-herman/beach-books/255352

Love on the Beach

Going back to the seashore in my mind and my heart brings back all the memories of past years there.  The teen years were especially memorable with all that longing.  What was it all about?  At the time it seemed to be centered on the oposite sex but it was more than that I think.  A longing to be accepted, to be a part of something bigger than the family or maybe longing is simply built in to being a teenager.  We loose the unselfconscious joy-hood that childhood can be and don't have any skills to master the great chore of adulthood.  We want to have sex for sure but have no idea what the ramifications of sex will be and certainly don't want to be parents.  It is truly a period between a rock and a hard place.
Life guards are always a focus of a young girl's heart.  The beach is a hunting ground.  Bodies are exposed and on parade.

LIFEGUARD STAND

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

SOLD

WALKERS PASSING

6" x 8" 

oil on ccanvas board

SOLD

THE KISS

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

SOLD

Kids at the beach

Who hasn't thrilled at the prospect of a week or two at the beach when you were young?  At any age making sand castles is fun and a morning swim in the ocean is an ecstatic experience. i am revisiting paintings from the shore to get ready for my next visit.  Half the fun of a vacation is anticipation.

DIGGING

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

SOLD

MORNING SWIM

6" x 8"

oil on canvas

SOLD

LIFEGUARDS

LIFEGUARDS

Nancy Herman

8" x 6"

oil on canvas

Growing up going to the shore every summer I was a little in love with one life guard after another.  That athletic, tanned, manhood keeping everyone safe from the 'undertoad' got my rapt attention every time.  Finally, when I was 16, I was invited to the Life Guard's Ball by one of these God's of the beach.

I thought that experience, which was more of a wrestling match than a ball, had cured me of this fascination forever.  However, while thinking about this painting, I realized I actually married a swimmer who was at one time a Life Guard. 

$125.00

Everybody In

Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air ~  Ralph Waldo Emerson


After the quiet sparkling morning on the beach,  the day is filled with the carnival of colorful umbrellas and the chairs of the day revelers. The edge of the sea seems to bring out a universal joy in human beings as if they feel at home at last.


$125.00

LAST TO LEAVE

LAST TO LEAVE

Nancy Herman

8" x 6"

oil on canvas board

This is the time of day to sit on the beach, after the crowds have dissappeared and the sun is low and golden.

This subject reminds me of the postcards I used to send from the seashore.  How rarely I get or send a postcard anymore.  Part of the reason I named my blog "Postcards from Merion" was because I always loved getting and sending postcards.  The idea of a little colored card sailing out through so many hands to reach a friend seemed so wonderful to me as a child ...and still does.  I only hope we keep using the mail so no more post offices have to close.

$125.00

RISING SUN

RISING SUN

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

The best time to swim in the ocean is in the very early morning when the sun is just rising out of the water.  It feels as if you are swimming in liquid sunshine. What a way to start the day!

$125.00

SOLD

AFTER THE STORM

AFTER THE STORM

Nancy Herman

8" x 6"

oil on canvas

ocean city vacation 2011:

It really is an ecstatic experience to walk on the beach in the very early morning and watch the sun come up.  So much untouched space with nothing but the birds and the sea creatures and that great rolling ocean.  It reminds me of this stanza from Byron's poem, memorized in high school.

Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean – roll!
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;
Man marks the earth with ruin – his control
Stops with the shore; -- upon the watery plain
The wrecks are all thy deed, not does remain
A shadow of man’s ravage, save his own,
When for a moment, like a drop of rain,
He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan,
Without a grave, unknell’d, uncoffin’d, and unknown.








SOLD
$125.00