After two days of torrential winter storms, I wandered a quiet shoreline in East Honolulu, soaking in the textures, softened light, and tiny treasures scattered across the shore. Pearlescent shells, ghost crab burrows, seaweed tangles, and bleached coral fragments told a quiet story of renewal and rhythm.

This inspiration walk became the spark for a new collection—Beachcomber: Tidal Echoes. I knew I wanted to create more than just a palette; I wanted to craft a story, a sensory experience, and a meaningful connection between land, pigment, and imagination.

To help bring that vision to life, I turned to my digital co-creator: Ideation PLAYground.

Ideation PLAYground is my custom-built AI tool designed to support artists in the ideation process. For this project, I collaborated with it to:

• Define the tone and visual story of the collection: calm, reflective, grounded in nature and post-storm textures
• Anchor the inspiration in place by naming the specific location
• Explore ecological and seasonal rhythms like full-moon low tides, ghost crab life cycles, and wrack lines
• Analyze a series of beach photos I captured through a creative and scientific lens—from ghost crab burrows to mudflat ripples to remnants of seashells

What emerged was a mood and narrative direction that felt true to my experience and expanded through thoughtful questions, unexpected connections, and poetic interpretations.

Through my AI-led brainstorming sessions, I began designing an 8-color custom palette inspired by the beach photos I captured and explored with the tool. I asked Ideation PLAYground to help name each shade, suggest pigment combinations, and describe textures through poetic language.

Some color ideas that emerged:

• Sandy Drift – the warmth of dry tide-line sand
• Coral Whisper – a soft pastel hue inspired by bleached coral fragments
• Marine Algae Green – echoing seaweed washed ashore
• Foamline Blue – a pale, wave-laced blue from the retreating tide

We even explored natural pigment ingredients like coral powder, driftwood ash, and crushed mineral earths—connecting each hue back to place and material.

To keep everything cohesive, I used Notion to organize the collection’s development. This included:

• Pages for pigment formulas, surface pattern ideas, and visual references
• A living collection journal capturing AI prompts, reflections, and research
• A creative content tracker for emails, launch assets, and storytelling threads

This digital system helped me move seamlessly from idea to execution while preserving the spirit of intuitive play.

Once I had a clear tone and story direction, I gathered photos from my walks, swatch scans, and AI-inspired imagery into Canva.

I designed layered mood boards to explore texture, palette, and visual language. Using Canva’s color tools, I fine-tuned pigment groupings and began visualizing how the paints would live across sketchbooks, packaging, and artwork.

This wasn’t about speeding up or automating the creative process. It was about deepening it.

AI became a mirror and a muse—it helped me see themes I didn’t notice at first, sparked new ideas for materials and marks, and offered language when I was searching for the right metaphor or title.

Beachcomber: Tidal Echoes is the result of that partnership—between nature, memory, and digital imagination.

Curious how this all works in practice? I created a free Beachcomber Prompt Preview with 10 sketchbook prompts pulled directly from my process.

Use it to explore your own version of shoreline-inspired creativity.

👉 View the Prompts →

✨ Explore the Collection

The Beachcomber: Tidal Echoes collection is now available for pre-order. It features:

• A curated palette of handcrafted artisan paints and inks
• A mix of duotone and textural pigments inspired by the sea
• Bonus sketchbook prompts and mood board inspiration

👉 Click here to Pre-Order →

Thank you for joining me on this creative journey. I can’t wait to see what it inspires in your own sketchbook.

With love and pigment,

xo~Traci