Gulls at Padre Island

Padre Island National Seashore, Texas is my local beach, even though it's an hour and a half drive from my home in McAllen.  Among my fond memories of an English seaside childhood is feeding the gulls on the beach.  It was my mother's way of getting rid of stale bread, and a treat for us children watching the birds swoop and scramble in competition for the bits of bread we threw in the air.   I chose to depict these gulls in quiet contemplation, as I wanted to capture the laid-back serenity of a day by the sea.  This little painting was selected to travel to several museums as part of an American Parks exhibition.