This painting is a collage of children exploring the beach. They surf, do somersaults in the sand, jump the waves, and run laughingly terrified from an oncoming wave. And one child is the observer who grew up to be a painter. In addition to the subject matter, I am intrigued by the qualities of  oil paint-how wateriness can be evoked by drips of wet paint and shades of transparent white. What is real? What is illusion?