Wendy's blog

As a ‘Crafty Beggar’ I’m up for recycling anything, but it’s not often I resort to using dirty rubbish in an effort to produce a work of art! The idea for this seahorse canvas came to me when I was walking along the beach with my pal Jane at Watergate Bay in Cornwall.

Materials Used:

• Large Canvas
• Art-C Texture Cream
• Pinflair Glue Gel
• Stencils
• Lots and lots of beach rubbish, as seen below…

We go to Cornwall every year (and pick up other people’s litter every year!). Whilst doing the same a few weeks ago, I thought that this time I would put our bags of rubbish to good use — and try to make a bit of a point at the same time! I used a large canvas and then a variety of creams to create the sand and sea colours. The plant and clock stencils are from the Stamps Away range and I mixed paint with a white wall filler to create a thick texture.

The glue that is holding all the rubbish in place is Pinflair Glue Gel! After I’d finished, I got to thinking. What would happen if the litter got worse and worse and worse? (Particularly the plastic). I imagined a situation in which it got so bad that the beaches as we know them simply disappeared. This thought came to me in the middle of the night — as thoughts like this do — and I slid out of bed to write the poem below.

Until next time! Love,Wendy x

“Plastic Paradise” — Wendy Turner Webster

There’s a little girl on the beach, a tub of sweeties in her hand
It’s shiny and plastic and destined for the sand
She had wished for the sweets and the wish had come true
Who cares about the plastic? She has better things to do
Mum doesn’t care, she can’t see a bin
Dad doesn’t care either; well, it’s hardly a sin!

Nearby, two lovers lie together under the sun
The magic of the beach, an adventure just begun
They whisper and they kiss as the sun gently sets
They leave the beach at midnight, no looking back, no regrets
But they forgot the condom, the champagne bottle and the cork
A morning surprise where others will soon walk

The sea creatures gasp for life as the years pass by
More rubbish and plastic, more reasons to die
But the kids and the grownups and the sun seekers, they don’t care
Not a care in the world, this world that we share
Their cups, their bottles, their plastic bits lay forgotten on the shore
And the waves roll in and spew out some more
For it’s not just this beach, it’s every beach in the land
Knee deep in plastic where there used to be sand

“No point going now” is the latest I’ve heard said
The beach is a dump and the sea creatures are all dead
No star fish, no sea horses, no crabs, no fish
And the little girl returns to the beach to make another wish
She stands among the rubbish with the wind in her hair
She’s an old lady now and now she does care
But like most things in life, the knowledge comes too late
Humans were so happy to be lazy, never contemplating their fate
Years of rubbish on the beach, killing and harming for all that time
Now there’s nothing left to do but admit to the crime

Yes! Confess! We must all take our turn
And then ask the question — do we humans ever learn?

We killed the beach and we killed the sea and we shake our heads but it’s true;
A landscape of plastic — not the paradise we once knew.

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