Yes, I paint lifeguards often, I know -- but then again, I do live near the beach, and I am fascinated by the graphic quality of their perch against the sky. This painting was larger before, but I wasn't happy with the other figure in it so I cropped and reframed it to include only the one.

Walked off to the beach the other day for some inspiration and found it. Dashed off this quick sketch with a pencil, a small box of watercolors, and a waterbrush. As usual I like my sketch -- done in about 10 minutes -- better than the painting I did later over several hours! While I was working, two little girls, about 9 and 7, came up to see what I was doing. They asked if I liked to draw people. I said yes, but also noted that I have a hard time getting the faces to look right. I told them that's why I like drawing people from the side or back. The older girl promptly replied, "Well, let us know if you'd like to draw US from the back, and we'll freeze for you!"