Still Life on Sand — Karen Hayes

To an artist's eye, the receding sea leaves the boats in the harbour looking like abandoned water toys after the bath has been drained. Living in the harbour community of St Ives, sculptor Esm Cochran has watched both her sons fall in love with that sea -- Hugo with the surfing and Crispin with the fishing. But here, in the company of the tides, the mists and the extraordinary local light, other love affairs are also begun.

Affairs that divide husband from wife and artist from canvas take place alongside budding youthful romances, whilst one old sailor, Percy Prynne, is haunted by the tragic echoes of the past and watches over Esm's own growing turmoil with uncanny foreknowledge.

In this beautiful and perceptive stow in which the sounds of the sea mingle with the smell of oil paint, Karen Hayes has drawn an evocative and lasting picture of the lives and loves of members of a small community.