“You have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way”.” -Richard Bach from Jonathan Livingston Seagull

“Pam’s Beach”, 36×24”, Acrylic, 2023. (Commission) ©Amy Livingstone

I love this quote from Jonathan Livingston Seagull, the 1970 text that helped shape a generation of free spirits pushing the social and cultural boundaries of that era. My eldest sister, Pam, is of that generation and am grateful to all the women like her who broke through established norms so those of us coming up behind them could have the freedoms our mothers never had, and to choose how we wanted to live our lives (though our reproductive rights are being stripped across this country which is outrageous to say the least).

Pam recently commissioned me to paint a beachscape (seen above) for her new home in SW Florida as she begins life anew. Her only requests were lots of blue and to feel peace and calm. It was a joy and a lot trickier to paint water lapping up on the sand than I had imagined! Of course, she also loved the sanderlings so ubiquitous to the beaches and her own Livingstone Seagull.