What the Ocean Gave Me

The feet in the painting are mine. Right down to the missing toenail that I lost in a scooter accident when I was six - It never grew back. The edge of the bathtub is lined with Kiama’s Norfolk Pines. Perched on top of my big toe is a magpie, a bird that I love to paint and is regularly seen around Kiama. My grandsons are represented as two cheeky monkeys hanging from the vine attached to my pinky toe. Frida often included monkeys, birds and cats in her work. My cat Nala is situated on a Lilypad surrounded by Koi Fish that are memories from my time in Japan. My husband and I are fishing in our tinny and close by are the two breaching whales we were lucky enough to see on a recent fishing trip off the Kiama coast. The five people snorkling around my feet are my husband and I and his family in Thailand on my 50th birthday. My feet represent the giant cliff faces that are prominent amongst the islands, as are the monkeys. My daughter can be seen floating on a watermelon (another favourite of Frida’s) with an ice-cream in one hand and a chocolate in the the other. She is studying Nutrition and Dietetics and this is her demonstrating fun with food and a balanced diet. My mother is represented by the Queen of Spades card seen on the rock-shelf. My mum loves a good game of cards and this particular card has meanings of authority, independence and wisdom. My son can be seen diving from the rocks in an attempt to catch one of those big fish. An adventurer and a risk taker, he loves a challenge. On the shoreline is my beagle Jamison, who often appears in my paintings. He loves the beach and can be seen here playing with the seagulls that were the subject of another of my paintings ‘Shoreline Seagulls’. The group of people surfing are family and friends enjoying the ocean, and the flowers in the corner are Frida, looking over my painting and hopefully smiling.