Always At The Beach

By Kristen Coates

2026

Acrylic on canvas

24"H × 20"W

Signed by the artist.

This painting, from my newest body of work, began as an exploration of color theory and quickly became something more personal. Rather than describing a place, these paintings are meant to evoke the feeling of being somewhere you never want to leave.

Loose passages of saturated color float across an expansive field of white, creating movement without urgency. Bright pinks, sea-glass turquoise, cobalt blue, and soft peach gather like memories from a perfect summer afternoon, sun-warmed skin, salt air, umbrellas in the distance, and the feeling that time has quietly slowed down.

For me, this painting carries the emotion of returning to the beach year after year. Not a specific shoreline, but that unmistakable sense of lightness that arrives the moment your feet touch the sand.

I imagine this piece bringing a room the same feeling: fresh, optimistic, and quietly joyful. It is meant to be lived with, revealing new relationships between color each time you pass by.

Fresh from my studio, Always At The Beach is part of a collection that marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in my work.