I painted it because sunsets are beautiful and beaches are fun.

I got inspired to paint because my dad and I saw a whale spout in the ocean and when it flipped over I saw the most craziest thing I have ever seen in my life: a whale tail! That is why I did this painting.

I wanted to draw sting rays because I think they are cool. I also wanted to draw sand dollars because my sister and I saw an alive sand dollar at the beach. They were very pretty. We collected the dead ones at the beach too. I think they are amazing sea creatures.

I like leopard sharks because I see them swimming under the piers.

In School, I learned about working together to protect our Mother Earth. We practice our responsibility to keep it safe and healthy. The ocean is my favorite place to go to. I love fish and all marine creatures. I wish we'd do our parts to end extinction for sea species. To provide a clean and harmless ocean environment is a way to show our respect, love and kindness. This way, all fish and water creatures can enjoy their party under the sea, and I can join them with my surfboard on the top.

First things that you notice when you go to the ocean, you will see a lot of seagulls. They are friends of beautiful ocean.

After a storm, two Black Oystercatchers hunt for food on a windswept beach. I think that the silvery colors of the surf are beautiful on a cloudy day.

My parents took me to Asilomar Beach by the "seaside painted cups" of beautiful California red flowers. Due to the pandemic, I was socially distancing in a bubble. I felt lonely as I had no friends to play with. I saw seal pups playing freely with friends, however, humans sat socially distancing themselves in faraway rocks. It made me sad and I wanted to be free like the animals and the sea. I should not have to wave at my friend from a distance. The sea breeze sang to me in a whisper putting my heart at ease. I then danced with the roaring waves and sang with the soothing breeze. I picked seashells that whooshed in my ears. I listened to them carefully and I thought they said "We are all free like the sea."

The first time I learned about sea otters was during the "Sea Otter Awareness Week." During COVID 19 stay-at-home order, I have been watching the Monterey Bay Aquarium's sea otter live cam and videos as I was curious to know more about them. I enjoyed learning about Rosa the surrogate sea otter mom that raised 15 otter pups. This painting is a dedication to Rosa who has now retired from the sea otter exhibit. Sea otters help our environment by eating the purple sea urchins that attack the kelp and break our ocean's ecosystem.

I am lucky enough to live close enough to Monterey Bay. I love to learn about the kelp forest and how it serves as the home for so many creatures. For my artwork, I did a watercolor background and used plastic wrap while the paint was wet to get the texture. I then drew the kelp on black cardstock and cut them out with scissors. Afterwards, I drew the outlines of the sea creatures using a silver pen and cut them out with scissors and pasted everything on my watercolor background. I thought using a silhouette was interesting because it emphasizes the overall shapes of things. I had a lot of fun on this project.

My family and I love going to the beach. We pick up marine debris to help keep the ocean clean. I drew our kelp forest with sea turtles, a California sheephead, a school of Pacific mackerel and a Garibaldi, our state fish. I tried to do a stained glass effect. The artwork also turned out to be a little abstract.

A couple of years ago, I went on CA 1 on a short vacation trip with my family. My mom and I were able to observe a bunch of elephant seals. It was super cool, and that's what inspired me to paint this picture.

I was motivated to do this project because, without the ocean, surfers can't enjoy the moment out there in the sea. If there were objects such as trash in the sea, surfers cannot enjoy their time when they wanted to surf.

Hace 3 años mi papá y mi hermano fallecieron en la playa Goat Rock y que se días antes de su muerte nos llevó a esta playa Point Reyes el hacer este dibujo me hizo recordar y volver a vivir los momentos inolvidables que pasamos juntos como familia.
(Three years ago my dad and my brother passed away on Goat Rock beach and that was days before their death led us to this beach at Point Reyes. Making this drawing made me remember and relive the unforgettable moments we spent together as a family.)

I love Octopuses! They are incredible and intelligent creatures. I felt inspired to draw one because I recently watched a wonderful Movie called My Octopus Teacher. I am fascinated by the textures of their skin, defenses, colors and personality. I am very grateful that they live on the California coast!

I have seen numerous pieces attempt to capture the vast beauty of the ocean, however it is incredibly difficult to do so, as there is much flora and fauna within. So, instead of crowding my work with the entirety of California's coast, I chose to depict a small, yet intense and intimate scene between a Brandts' cormorant and some unlucky kelp wrasse.

My art piece was inspired by two challenges that 2020 brought upon us. One of the challenges was not being able to access the beach due to the pandemic. The other challenge being the fires that lid the sky with dense smoke for weeks on end. I combined both to showcase my appreciation to our California coast and California heroes.

The title of the artwork is "Ocean Monologue." The feeling and ambience from the art resonate different sentiments as well as the monologue's origination (Child/Ocean) depending on the mood of the observer. Overall, the artwork resembles mutual dependencies of nature and mankind.

Since I was born, I've only lived in various cities throughout the Bay Area. Whenever I feel upset for whatever reason, my family notices, and saying, "let's go somewhere!" takes everyone to a beach. Each time, I return home feeling energized and cheerful. Bare feet on the warm, soft sand, swimming amongst the chilly blue waves, and breathing in the refreshing, salty air always uplifts my spirits and clears my mind. No matter how old I am - from a little toddler to now a teenager - Californian beaches have been the source of my happiness, and I will forever be grateful for these opportunities.

I feel that art and turtles are somewhat alike. Not in any physical attributes or anything like that, but instead what they're going through behind the scenes. As we live out our daily lives, the turtle's food source and home is being taken away inch by inch just like funding and the love for art. In the words of the great Drake, "Better late than never, but never late is better." We need to come together, right now, while we still can, and make a change for turtles, and also for art.

As a kid, I've always loved going to beaches. They're always so beautiful especially when there's a sunset above and it reflects on the water. When I watch the waves crash onto the rocks, it calms me and it almost feels therapeutical.

This art piece is a visual representation of blind destruction that is occurring throughout the world. Despite our vast knowledge, we continue to harm sea life, the environment, and our earth by throwing our landfill into the oceans. People are dumping hazardous waste like oil and plastics, and other garbage into the ocean that is negatively impacting sea life. In my culture salmon sustains us and provides us with vitality, without salmon it would negatively impact the balance of our culture, we use salmon for food, traditional ceremonial practices, income, and to maintain the balance of north coast species.

With the issue of climate change in mind, I decided to focus in on one of its many consequences: flooding on the Californian Coast. Essentially, my purpose was to convey the necessity for a greater, collective effort to reverse our wrongdoings against the environment by juxtaposing the power of nature with a pitiful indication of our reckless existence, represented by the bird and the sign respectively.

Most people, including me, were unable to travel anywhere during COVID-19 times. During quarantine, though, I found myself dreaming about the road trip my family took along the California coastline. I vividly remember the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco Bay, with the setting sun making the water shimmer. I wanted to capture that nostalgic moment and highlight the beauty of the California coast.

These days, we must stay at home and keep a safe distance. Especially after the Covid-19 pandemic got worse, it became a challenge to enjoy the sunset on the beach. This modern issue inspired me to draw a car driving on a California Pacific Coast highway to encourage a safe way to embrace the beauty of the California Pacific Coast.

One summer, my family and I took a trip to La Jolla beach to get away for a week. While there, we got to experience the bioluminescent waves, which was the first time I had ever seen them. The glowing ocean captivated me and I could feel the openness of the waves, teeming with life. I will never forget that moment and it is what inspired me to paint this piece.

Amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, I have recently been trying to distract myself from the issues the virus has presented, so I illustrated that attempt in my art piece. The piece itself is a sea otter looking at a kelp forest, poised to dive down and leave behind the foreboding overworld. The dark sky represents the harshness of the world, whereas the kelp forest is meant to appear bright and alluring, representing some kind of coping mechanism that one would use to escape from hardship (like drawing, cooking, exercise, etc.)

Living in California relatively near the beach, I have grown to love the animals that live there, specifically the green sea turtle. In my drawing I wanted to demonstrate how the green sea turtle, coral reefs and under water greenery, as well as jellyfish live in unison for they all depend on one another to thrive in the sea.