Beachy Still Life #10

11x15" Watercolor on 140 lb. Kilimanjaro WC paper

Number ten features a wreath I bought from Lily Howard on Edisto Island in exchange for taking some reference photographs of her, from which I did a couple of paintings some time ago. She and her daughter, and perhaps another woman, have the only Sweetgrass Basket stand on Edisto. In the last decade or so, a lot of attention has been rightfully paid to these basket makers of South Carolina. Primarily because as a people, they have successfully held on to much of their culture through all of these years, the style of the baskets reflect a direct connection with the West coast of Africa. The shell is an Angelwing. They are so fragile a shell that this is the most whole one we've found in years and years of beach combing. They do get much larger, but good luck finding a whole one!