Weymouth crocs sand artist 'wants to put joy into the world'
Mr Lewis said his passion for sand art grew out of building sandcastles on the beach when his sons were little."Probably around 2010, we just started getting a bit more ambitions with what we wanted to do," he said."It just sort of grew and grew, and turned into quite a major hobby and side hustle."Since then, the 57-year-old has created countless sand sculptures, including dragons, mermaid tails, Spongebob Squarepants and a giant ice cream cone.He said he practised in a sandpit in his garden, or on the beach in Scarborough.
'Super focussed'
He begins the process by stacking up the sand, enclosed in a ring of plastic sheeting, and then pouring seawater on top and packs it tightly.He then begins carving, using a range of DIY equipment including palette knives and homemade tools, with the entire process taking about seven hours.He said he enjoyed the physical exercise it brought as well as the headspace the carving put him in."You get into this flow where you're super focussed on what you're doing and I just find that headspace very relaxing," he said."I'm away from everything else that I've got to worry about in my life."
He said part of the reason he created the crocs was because he wanted to make something members of the public could interact with."I think that's the reason they did so well," he said.For the same reason, he created a mermaid tail at SandWorld Weymouth.He said as long as he took photos of what he had created, he did not mind what happened to his sculptures after he leaving a beach."You're creating ephemeral art - it's a temporary medium," he said."You really can't be bothered about what's going to happen to it afterwards."
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