Shell Seekers

This is an early morning observation of a couple who had stopped short to look at a something in the water.  They had been walking, paused suddenly, turned to each other and peered into the water.  They stood there for about 5 minutes or so.

They looked to be in their 70s - he was shorter and wore an Irish wool cap.  She had very dark hair and was a good  five inches taller than he.  It was a fast color sketch, so I have had to finish without my reference.

The tide was out and the birds are having their breakfast of clams.  

They pickup clams in their beaks, fly up and fling them down on the sand.  Often they will do it several times until the clams, stunned, let go their grips and are gobbled up faster than you can say "chowder".

The shells are in thick piles all along the beach.  Its hard not to want to take home buckets of them.  I'm hoping to paint a series of shells I collected.

I'm having difficulty photographing my work.  I'll have to read up on technique.

Any suggestions welcome!