Sand art 'puts a little joy into the world'

A man who creates intricate sand sculptures on beaches has said he does it to "put a little bit of joy into the world".

Mark Lewis' latest creation was a giant pair of crocs that he made on Weymouth Beach whilst on holiday in Dorset.

The part-time church minister, who lives in York, was invited to sculpt something at SandWorld Weymouth after images of the shoes circulated on social media.

"There's all sorts of horrible things happening in the world so if I can put a little bit of joy into the world or put a smile on somebody's face, then it feels like a good thing to do," he said.

Mr Lewis said his ion 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.

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 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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