sand sculpting!

On the weekend Hervey Bay celebrated 'National Whale Day'..the bonus for me was I got to see a sand sculpture in action! It was awesome!

Steve Machell, a sand artist from Byron Bay put in an enormous effort, sculpting this whale. You can see the size of it. Four women and Steve started digging at 5:30am Saturday morning (that's committed!) and the sculpting began around 7:30. We arrived on the beach at about 10:30 to see this beautiful whale in progress.

Steve then shared some sand building techniques with the kids and adults alike. He made a sea horse and round sand balls that he then juggled, and they didn't explode in his hands. It was amazing.

I was busting to start my own sand play, feeling very inspired by having a huge and vast canvas and material resource to create with...sand and water. Just needed a few basic tools to help, like a bucket!

This is how the whale finished up, I just love the detail around its fin and its eye...and the barnacles as well! What blew my mind was the fact that there was definitely a time factor, according to the upcoming tide and the fact that it was in the moment public art. Here today, gone tomorrow, and to be appreciated now. I guess there is some parallel to whales if we chose not to do anything about the whaling.Check out Steves website, it has some amazing castles and specially themed for weddings on the beach.

The next day my kids and I decided to head to the beach with our sculpting tools and inspiration. It was loads of fun, and as always not quite as easy as it seems. But I loved it, like playing in the mud but different. My son seems to be quite the expert when it comes to making sand balls!

This little bit of sand knowledge certainly makes playing on the beach a little more creative and rewarding. Think I'll keep a bucket in the car just in case I feel like playing in the sand.Thank you Steve and thank you whales.