Tales from a Shed: Searching for Kirsty

The last time I was at this beach I found the perfect paint-peeling, wave-tossed plank of wood for the oh so talented Kirsty Elson - Cornish artist, designer and beachcomber extraordinaire. (You seriously need to look at her work!)

I ummed and ahhhed as to whether to post the monstrous thing to her abode in Cornwall (I know, jealous or what?) where she'd saw, sand and beat it into submission to create yet another jaw-dropping sculpture.

I'd like to think that something I had found could eventually be made into a work of art.

It weighed a ton, so needless to say what with Royal Mail hiking their prices, it remained firmly on the shore. (Sorry Kirsty)

So this time, after a bit of a blowy, over-night storm, I was determined to find her something on the beach I could send using just a second class stamp peeled from an un-franked Christmas card. (Who me? Frugal? )

I'm the selfish type - I like the place to myself - which means getting up at some ungodly hour.

However, I'd been well and truly beaten by a hardy photographer who had staked his place about half a mile out to sea and was, one can only assume, waiting patiently for the light/sky/view to change.

As I was rifling and picking my way through the tangled, black mass of seaweed and rubbish, I had one of those lightbulb moments. It occurred to me that some of my artist friends on Facebook could all benefit in some way from my visit.