I hope you all enjoyed your stop over and are well rested and ready to get back to the tour. And thanks for the give away Ali, what a great "souvenir" from our trip (yes, that may be stretching the travel theme a little to far, but indulge me!)
Today we are heading to the coast (and there is plenty of coastline to be found around this island of ours) and we will take our colour inspiration from the "BEACH".
1. Inspiration Photo - East Coast of Australia
Australia boasts some of the world’s
best beaches and the huge coastline stretches for nearly 37,000 km, which
includes 11,011 beaches, more than any other nation. Most of Australia's cities
and towns are situated on the coast, within a few kilometres of the ocean,
which amounts to about 85% of Australia's population living within one hour's
drive of the coastline. I am one of the lucky ones and have always lived about
5 minutes from the beach.
2. The Colour Board:
The colours of the beach are pale:
creams, beiges, and yellows. This
colour palette is calm and neutral and works well with many themes.
3. The Layouts:
This photo was taken from a very brief photo shoot I did with my son Oscar when he turned 17 (and no, I can't believe that he will be "officially" an adult - 18 years old - towards the end of this year). When I say brief you must understand that this 17 year old would rather do chores than pose for photos, but he indulged me and I wanted to make a layout to celebrate.
The colours in this photo were very strong, so I decided that a neutral background would put all the focus on the photo (and those green eyes).
For this layout it was my photos that contained the beach colours from our colour board and I chose complimentary cardstock and patterned papers, keeping a large white border for needed white space.
4. Cultural Lesson:
"On the Beach" – a poem by Michael Williams
At dawn,
bare footed, viewing as far as eyes can reach,
the water's
edge advances and recedes along the beach.
Before me I
see a carpet of half-buried shells of sea-creatures,
tide washed
and rippled in sodden sand along the beach.
I move,
exploring, sodden sand oozing between my toes,
beyond me
the wavelets breaking on the sand along the beach.
Behind me,
my wandering trail is blurred and indistinct,
as the
water's edge advances and recedes along the beach.
At mid-day,
on the soft dry sand behind the water's edge,
undressed
worshippers lie in the sun that beats down along the beach.
At night,
the moon's reflection at the water's edge
resembles
sea serpents playing in the wavelets along the beach.
This poem is simple, contemporary and perfectly captures the essence of the beach; I know it makes me want to bury my feet in the sand and chase the waves at the waters edge.
5. Australia 101:
First, we say lolly instead of candy and I have to tell you this lolly is a hard minty chewy treat that has been responsible for pulling out many a filling from people's teeth and my dentist is always warning me not to chew them. Like that is going to stop me. Ha!
After living in London for a few years in the late 80s, I remember touching down at Sydney airport and buying a nice big bag of these at the duty free shop. Yes, I missed this classic Aussie treat.
So today you can head back to your stash and see if you can put together a buttery, pale layout inspired by the beach. We will be back on the road again tomorrow as we say goodbye to the beach and head off on our next colour adventure.