Moray Coast

Family and friends playfully traversed the Moray Coast at midsummer.  Children forged new pathways and friendships, we followed; balancing on driftwood logs, barefooted in the shallows and sliding between the dunes.  Textures, silhouettes and objects were gathered in armfuls with objectivity and open, endless curiosity.  Starfish carcasses, curling kelp, a cormorant’s wing, knotted fishing twine, crabs and shells, charcoal, sea glass, bladderwrack... Their boundless enchantment kept us light in the moment as we walked the familiar shifting curve of sandy shore.  In the dip between the dunes, where we lit a fire for winter solstice, the air was still and warm.  Even with cloud cover, the midsummer uv worked quickly and the objects nestled snugly in the sandy bed.  This time it was the children who animated the process, little footsteps dancing and shuffling, impatient and exuberant.  Tugged at by tide, called to by gulls and enticed towards the shore in the minutes it took to expose, shadows shifted and blurred in accordance with the impossible task of sitting still at the seaside.  The reveal was a glorious moment, familiar to any printmaker to see the marks of the process reflected back with a startling, immersive clarity.  We were transfixed, inspired and happily exhausted.