#One Week - Summer '12 - Beauty

I find combing beaches for pebbles, shells and other washed up oddities the most relaxing past time. I switch off when I focus on the array of hues and textures nestled in the sandy grains. I'm absorbed by the detail of something so simple as a small stone, feeling its smooth or coarse surface between the palms of my hands, admiring the flecks and punctuations of colour. I imagine how many years it's taken the tidal elements to sculpt these basic rocks.

I discovered the above creation on Praa Sands beach, Cornwall. What do you think it could be? My initial thought was that it looked like an eye. I was tempted to remove the framing seaweed but I think the artist had every intention of its inclusion in the piece. So I left it as it was supposed to be until the sea eventually reclaimed her estate.

To me, the way the pebbles have been arranged, according to the camaraderie of colour, reflects one of the basic needs of human nature - to define, to classify, to group, to find resonance in the similar and familiar, to extract symmetry and harmony from the unruly jungle created by a toddler and her toy box...

This work of art was crafted by Little A and I on the last morning of our holiday. She helped to assort our chosen pebbles according to colour; white, dusky pink, blood red(dish) and slate grey. "Mummy look, I've found another white one." "That's great, pop it on that pile there". Then two small hands assisted me in placing the white stones in the middle. The other coloured pebbles followed, positioned in circles around the centre.

Little A and I both felt very pleased with our mosaic masterpiece. But even more satisfying, was the mummy and daughter collaboration as we manifested this pebbly mandala. Just doing and being together was a thing of beauty. It washed ripples calmer than the sea over every pore of my physical self...


This is the third day of the seasonal linky One Week. Over the next few days (until Friday) I'll be posting a photograph(s) and a few words that diarises and distills my experience of summer '12. Take a peep at the details here. You can join in for one, two ... or the full five days. And don't forget to add #oneweek on Twitter.

Badge Code ...

<a href="http://older-mum.blogspot.co.uk/p/one-week.html" title="One Week"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8436/7807711152_c1a4245128_m.jpg" width="225" height="169" alt="one week"></a>

I am also linking this post up with The Gallery, this weeks theme is Beauty.