Play time, beach time

Beach time, 5 1/2 by 10 watercolor, 300 lb. d'Arches cold press paper

Time to play. After two days of trying to paint a structure at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, and six attempts of frustration, I read something this morning about play and how important it is.
No sermon or lecture here, just tuning into happiness. The phrase that caught me is that "play is like a day at the beach."
Growing up in the Southwest, I'm not a big fan of large bodies of water. It seems to me that bad things can happen when you're in water over your head. Like drowning, sharks, jellyfish, the Titanic, the Lusitania, hurricanes.  Some of that probably has to do with being pushed into a deep swimming pool when I was a kid, before I could swim.  
But Susan is a beach person, and I've come to enjoy at least the sound of eternal lapping of waves against the shore. And it's also fun to people watch. The beach is a place to play, and that's fun, and happy.
So behold, fun playing at watercolor, brilliant colors, a beach where sky and sand and water blend together, rather than trying so hard.

(Daily #worldwatercolorgroup January paint happy challenge.)