This was painted months before the somewhat recent fatal bluff collapse incident. You can see the warning on the beach here, that circle of boulders isn’t some hippy stonehenge setup, it’s the remainders of a previous collapse. The sand and soil has washed away, leaving just this ring as a reminder of the footprint these bluff collapses can leave. A sobering thought. But it’s a beautiful coast, and this southern view from one of the stairway’s landings was a joy to settle in with for an afternoon.

But the best part of this one for me (and also having nothing at all to do with the painting or the place), was unlike most of my trips to SD area, my wife came along for the ride, so instead of finishing this and scrounging some dry bread and salami and warm beer from the back of the van after finishing this painting, I got to kiss her beautiful sweaty face after her long jog on the beach while I painted. The multi-million dollar homes on the coast here are nice and grand, but it’s the simple things that truly make a man rich.