Benny and the Urchins
watercolor sketch
9 x 12
Canson Multimedia Paper

This is my sketch to prepare for the final one that will be in the permanent collection at the Brooklyn Art Library.  The final one will be smaller.

There are four urchins in this picture.


I'm excited and pleased because I did the whole thing without looking at any reference photos--maybe it would be better if I had, but there it is--completely uninfluenced by anything but my own mind.  Yeah, there should be another rock in front of the tide pool, but no one is perfect.

Benny and the Urchins

by Mary Stebbins Taitt · 117 words

When Benny and his parents were visiting Catalunya, they met a boy that everyone called "The Urchin." Benny's Mom told Benny that an urchin was a raggedy or mischievous boy. This boy was very raggedy.

Benny played on the beach with the urchin boy, and learned that his name with Miguel. He discovered that Miguel was called "The Urchin" in part because he ate sea urchins. He ate sea urchins because he had no parents and was homeless . He also ate clams, mussels, and fish that he herded into traps he built in the sand along the shore.

Mary Stebbins Taitt

image credit: me (detail from watercolor painting)
(Story to be continued at some future date.)