Here are some pictures of us creating sculptures in the sand last Sunday!
This was a perfect relaxing end to a stressful weekend, and it was so wonderful to be able to stroll down to Bondi beach for a swim with Sanna and Happy. Finishing the day with some creativity was just what was needed!
This is how it happened;- the three of us first randomly drew in the sand after our swim and some impromptu beach Yoga. I drew a heart, Sanna drew a dolphin, and Happy made a giant “peace sign” that encompassed both our drawings (but unfortunately it went right through Sanna’s dolphin -Oops! But fear not this potential tragedy created an opportunity further down the line…read on and find out what happened!)
We were already content with out two dimensional images, but then suddenly, as if by magic, we were driven to carve up the sand around the images to make them enter into the third dimension! These once lifeless symbols began to take on a new form, with a sense of life and vitality injected into their core!
Whilst we were carving some people would stop and watch us as they walked along the beach. Everyone was quite interested in what we were doing, and some even looked at us as if we knew what we were professionals (little did they know that this was the first time I’d done anything like this in my life – how ironic!)
What touched me the most was the fact that all the little kids were so fascinated by these 3D drawings in the sand. Honestly, I never imagined that they would be such a point of interaction!
We would say “so what do you think this one is?” – and a delighted little one would say “er.. I think…it’s a Love heart!?” looking at the image of the heart. Or when we pointer to the sunflower “it’s a flower!” to which we would reply “that’s good! It is! Do you know what kind of flower it is?”.
We also asked the interested children whether they would like to join us in the carving process but most were non committal – and perhaps justifiably so. After all sand sculpting appeared to be an onerous and slow task (much like data analysis- little did they know what I have been doing with my time of late!).
However, breaking the popular trend, was one 8 year old girl who came back to us, after her sea bath, and started carving out the third drawing without any encouragement!
Prior to her arrival it was clear that this image had been unfairely left out. It was bad enough that it had been dissected in half (in the name of a peace symbol) but our subsequent lack of attention in the sculpting stakes, gave the impression that it was playing second fiddle to both the heart and the sunflower! Lucky for the dolphin there was this talented young girl who diligently and gracefully resuscitated life back into its yet undiscovered form. Bravo to the creativity of Children! She’d managed to create a masterpiece by the time she was being called to go home, and better still – she agreed to pose in front of her artwork right before the sea would take it back to it’s point of origin!
So there you have it – “sand sculpting on the beach” – it was such fun and I fully recommend it next time you head to the beach!
PS – If you like sand sculptures – also check out this short film which makes amazing use of the beach for motion picture art!
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