Beach Star!

This Ironcraft challenge is a fitting Stars and Stripes for July 4th. Being Canadian and celebrating our own independence a few days ago I decided to move from the obvious flag theme to a more broad definition of stars and stripes. I've been going to the beach a lot and not being near an ocean the wildlife in the river floating to shore is not always the most exciting. So I decided to add my own wildlife.
The painting is an exercise in shading of the skies and the water and the sand. I see stripes that blend into each other so in a very round about way, this fits the theme. lol
I also have a bigger goal with the exercise because my next challenge will be to apply a beach theme to polymer clay. This is the warm-up. I have lot of fun painting this and am not very good at it but I think that my idea comes across. The starfish is making stripes in the sand.
I'd love to hear comments on whether you saw that before I told you or only after. Be kind but be honest.