Coastal Posters for Your Sunshine Daydream (by Ren Brabenec)
“At the beach, life is different. Time doesn't move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides, and follow the sun.”
-Sandy Gingras
That quote is the stuff of inspiration for artists like us, and it's those feelings about our coastlines and beaches that inspired Anderson Design Group to create the Coastal Collection. There is a certain magic in that transition where the land meets the ocean, a special aura where, very suddenly, the ground slips away and becomes water.
If you’re a lover of beaches, a fan of an afternoon in the sun, the sand, and the water, then the Coastal Collection is the art collection for you. This bright, vibrant, breezy collection features 70 pieces of original artwork: unique, vintage illustrations, colorful handcrafted posters of beaches, oceans, famous coastlines in America, beach cottages and favored vacation hotspots. And to truly make this collection special, each illustration in the collection was hand-drawn, lettered, colored, and printed right here in our Nashville studio.
And while our artwork may be created in (landlocked) Middle Tennessee, our inspiration for the coastal collection comes from our love for the various coastal regions of the U.S. and around the world.
A Family of Beach Lovers – Our Connection to the Coast
Though we live and work in Nashville, the Anderson family has its roots on the coast. And in a lot of ways, it was our own, personal love for the coast which inspired our team to create the Coastal Collection.
Joel Anderson went to high school in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He began his professional art career as a teenager, airbrushing t-shirts for tourists on the famous Myrtle Beach Boardwalk. Then he went to art school at the Ringling School of Art & Design in Sarasota, Florida, another beach town.
Patty Anderson grew up in France and spent her summers vacationing in the South of France, on the beautiful French coastline.
The Anderson family built a beach house in Destin, Florida, vacationing there two to three times per year. The cottage is beautifully decorated in illustrations from the Coastal Collection. Many of those illustrations were inspired by the cottage, the Destin neighborhood, and of course, the beautiful beaches of the Florida panhandle. The beaches and coastal regions of the U.S. mean something very significant to us, not only as artists, but as a family too.
The Beginning of the Popular Coastal Collection
Though most people love and celebrate the "Salt Life", most people in the U.S. live nowhere near a beach. We certainly feel that distance up here in Nashville, landlocked as we are and a good seven hour drive from Dolphins Cottage, our beloved Destin beachhouse (which we rent out whenever we aren’t staying there!)
Even though most Americans live inland, it was this understanding of an almost universal American affection for the water, beach, and coastline that inspired us to create the coastal collection. We wanted to create a series of artwork, perfect for home decor, that could remind us of the beach, even if we can’t be there every day.
We envisioned a series of artwork that would go with just about any home style or design pattern, any floor plan or location. If we can’t always be on the beach, why not bring the beach to us? Thanks to the handcrafted and vintage-style travel posters of the Coastal Collection, art lovers and beach enthusiasts alike can decorate their bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, dens, bathrooms, studies, and porches in retro artwork that has a timeless style and unique appeal. If you love the beach as much as we do, then the Coastal Collection is for you!
Our Nation’s Coasts – Each One a Story of Its Own
Did you know that the United States is ranked in the top ten list of countries with the most coastline? That’s right; the U.S. is the proud custodian of about 12,380 miles of ocean coastline: the Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Pacific Ocean in the west, the Arctic Ocean in the north, and the Gulf of Mexico in the south. Our beaches and coastlines are pictures of diversity. From the famous Waikiki Beach in Hawaii to sunny Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, from the cliffs of the Pacific Coast Highway in California to the breathtaking views of the rocky Maine shoreline, our coasts are unique and special. Each one tells a different story, and each one has amazed those who live nearby and those who have traveled far and wide to see them.
One of the aspects of our American coastlines that we find so admirable is the strong cultural push in our country to maintain ocean coastline for public access. This means that both residential and commercial landowners alike can own the land down to the high-tide line, but that’s it. The beaches themselves are for the public. This movement began more or less in the late 1960s. Since then, several states have changed their property laws to open up hundreds of miles of coastline for use by the public. That means more public land for the rest of us to enjoy the particular, unique draw to the coast. We feel it, and we know you do too.
Brighten Your Home with Sun-Kissed Vintage Travel Poster Art
Every U.S. state has public beaches and protected coastlines, splendid creations of nature that are made available to anyone who wishes to visit them. That’s something to be proud of. And now with over 70 illustrations (and more being added!) in our Coastal Collection, you can take a piece of paradise home with you. Hang these handcrafted vintage travel posters from your wall to make perfect conversation pieces and home decor items. Splash some color into your rooms with these retro posters, or gift them to friends and family who love a good trip to the beach.
Like the illustrations you saw in this blog post? Each one came from our Coastal Collection, which can be viewed in full at our Coastal Collection page. And while you're checking out our coastal illustrations, be sure to browse our other collections! We have more than 1,700 hand-drawn and colored vintage illustrations, and we’d be happy to share them with you, our family to yours.
See you on the beach,
-Ren Brabenec
Anderson Design Group Writing Staff
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