This happy and colorful beach painting was made in 2003 from sketches and photos of my favorite beach in Stinson, California. Stinson Beach is a beauty or rough and rugged land. I used to live in Mill Valley, just north of San Francisco, and hiked (and ran) every Sunday morning up and over Mount Tamalpais on the Dipsea Trail to the coast. I think it was about seven miles. The fog often rolls in and out, teasing the beach bathers. This painting is also known as ”Summer Days, Misty Beach”. Believe me, this water is sooo cold. You have to wear a full wet suit (which I did not have) or else you can only survive in the water for a few minutes. It was great fun boogy boarding with the huge waves crashing on that rugged Pacific coast.

A review in the Santa Barbara News Press about “Figuratively Speaking,” a group exhibition in the Meisel Gallery: “Kathleen Elsey paints with a looser hand than the other artists, building compositions with dabs of paint and structures built from modules. Fauvist echoes sneak into her scene paintings, brightly colored but slightly tilted views, as in “Beach Days, Misty” and “Mission Morning Mass,” a strange but interesting take on the oft-depicted Santa Barbara Mission.” Josef Woodard Santa Barbara News Press