Coronado Morning Light

Coronado Morning Light

There is something about a pile of dinghies sitting on a beach or tied to a dock that triggers a smile. Sitting out in the bay beyond these little beached or docked boats, which come in many shapes and sizes, are their larger companion sailboats and yachts, moored to buoys in neat rows. These neat rows are certainly not present on the beach or the docks, oh no. Our little transporters are mostly piled and crowded together, vying for a spot closest to the open water for an easy take-off. They have sand and dirt in their hulls and sometimes a bailer or two of dirty salt water. Ropes are tangled on peeling benches or slopped over the sides onto the sand. For me, this is what gives them their charm. Add a bridge in the background and you have cause for a painting!

I go in search of colorful little boats to paint. I find a lot of them here in Coronado and across the bridge in San Diego. As I add paint to canvas, I think about the life of these little wooden or plastic molded boats. They have an important job! Nobody is going to sail their lovely sailboats without these rusty buckets who dutifully perform their semi-boring job year after year. Back and forth, back and forth. Though some are pretty neat and tidy with little motors, most are kind of beat up with dirty rags and empty cans sitting in them, old sun-bleached life jackets shoved under benches. Paint is flaking off wooden sides and some are rotting a little bit. Beautiful! Those are the steady, loyal subjects I seek.

Thanks for reading my blog. 
~ Teresa