Gifts From the Ocean Exhibit at Encinitas Branch Library

Susan MacLeod has 21 paintings of kelp wrack or seaweed on the beach at the Encinitas Library.

The exhibit -- opened in mid-September -- will be at 540 Cornish Drive, through Oct.12.

These are colorful and unique paintings that have tension and balance. They are especially meaningful to the artist.

“I am inspired by the shapes, textures, colors and forms that the twisted masses of entangled seaweed on our beaches called kelp wreck.” Macleod wrote on the library’s website.

“I paint the kelp in an almost abstract way with balance and tensions.

“ Kelp on the beach means a kelp forest offshore and a healthy ocean.”