The ocean was a magnetic force for Anabel. The constantly changing colors and surface interactions entranced her. She sketched the sea while watching over three young children, and in later years, when she was barely able to stand in the edges of the waves, she would sit with watercolors on the shore. She went with her husband, Josh Holland, to Puerto Rico, and to Barbardos during one of his global meteorological expeditions. Many lush watercolors resulted from those trips. During the critical year of their separation prior to their divorce, she rented an apartment in a high rise condo with a pool, to swim for her health. She produced a series of water surface studies at the pool.