I often run on the beach in the early hours, and I always have my camera at hand, my idea of the absolute perfect start to any day. My current picture book project involves a young gull in a puzzling predicament, and so off I set this morning in the hopes of capturing some early morning gull activity to use as reference material.
My dog and I had the beach almost to ourselves. The light was stark and unearthly.
The sea was churning and roaring, and we had to jump and race the waves in places to pass.
Sanderlings darted along the shoreline.
And I knew this was one of life's pure and perfect moments.
And then the sun rose.
I'm aiming to get a gull's-eye-view in my illustrations, so I like to get down low. Also, I thought this seaweed was quite beautiful.
By 7 am when it was time to leave, I realized I'd seen no gulls, not one. Which means I will happily be back there tomorrow morning.
I may not have captured seagulls, but I immersed myself in the sensory experience of the beach, the visual, the sounds, the smells, the feel of the sand and the damp salty air on my skin, all things I look forward to using as I revise my text later today.
And I realized that while my text has beach scents, textures, and visuals, it is (almost) lacking in the sounds of the beach. My challenge now is to capture the rhythm and feel of the ocean in the language I'm using, and I feel that IF I can achieve that, I will have done something I'll feel quite pleased about.
What about you? Do you immerse yourself in your settings and characters' experiences, or do
you 'wing it' with imagination and memory?
you 'wing it' with imagination and memory?
