Another year, another beach sand sculpture!

We recently returned from our annual visit to Maine.  My son and his girlfriend joined us for the weekend, and helped build the annual beach sand sculpture!  We are not sophisticated sand sculptors; we bring a couple of shovels and try to do something large and silly.  That's it!

 Last year, my son wasn't feeling well, and without his help, the project was a big flop.  We needed to redeem ourselves this year!  So we built this rather large silly fish named Gladys.  As you can see in the photo below, she had a barrier moat surrounding her, which protected her from the incoming tide.

My son, his girlfriend, and my husband did all the digging, while I took a walk on the beach (and found kelp for her lips!).  Then, when the pile of sand was big enough, I began the structure.  My son and girlfriend helped a lot at this point, too,especially in shaping they eyes and tail, and cleaning the area around her.  It is definitely a collaborative effort each year! 

 When we left the beach, some kids were climbing on it.  I was sure between the kids and the tide, there would be nothing left the next day.  We did return the next day, and the moat was gone, the logs had moved, but there was still a large pile of sand, where kids played throughout the day!!

I have other photos from the trip to Maine I'd love to share, but I'll save them for another post!  If you'd like to see some prior beach sculptures, check out these posts from 2014, from 2013, from 2012, and from 2011.   And here we are, below, the whole low-tech beach sculpture team!

Sculpture on the beach

 Every August, we head to Maine, for a dose of the ocean.  

That's my husband, below, at Drake's Island Beach at Wells Preserve.

 I always post some photos of the sculpture we build out of beach sand on Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport.  In the past, I've shared Crazy Hary the Octopus, a big cat,a dragonfly, Melvin the Snail, a dragon, and  there have been more that weren't photographed.  My husband and adult son dig a huge pile of moist sand for me, I shape the sculpture, and my son lends a hand, particularly in the smoothing of the sand around the sculpture.  This is important in creating clean shadows so that you can really see the sculpture in the bright sunlight.

This year, my son's girlfriend joined us as well.  But they both had been ultra-busy with jobs and more, and were totally exhausted.  My son just didn't have the muscle power to do the work of previous years, and I could see he needed to rest more than anything.  Above, we all are sitting on the porch of a favorite Kennebunkport B&B, the Maine Stay.

Anyhow, back to the sculpture:  My husband and I dug a pile of sand, but it was not as big as previous years.  I've been watching spiders this summer, so I thought I'd build a big spider.  I shaped the spider, but with the hot sun and limited assistance, and smaller-than-intended size, it was mediocre.  Plus, the tide was coming in rather than going out, so the sand didn't have the moisture I would have liked, making it harder to shape.  I decided to put seaweed on the legs to make them look hairy, but  then the body looked awful.  The girlfriend collected a bunch of seaweed and suggested I use it to cover the whole body, so that's what I did.  It was a hot day, and I ran out of steam when it came time to clean up and smooth the sand around the sculpture (and I decided swimming in the ocean was a better choice), so the spider just doesn't have the planned impact.  For the first time ever, we weren't swarmed with kids asking to help.  People didn't stop to look at it or snap a photo.  I'm almost embarrassed to share the photos with you!

 

Meanwhile, the next day, while taking a walk at the beautiful and pristine Drake's Island Beach at the Wells Preserve, my husband and I encountered a sculpture on the beach.  It made me think of Robinson Crusoe, and I love that someone put so much time and thoughtfulness into building this incredible structure.  It was above the tide line, so it will probably be there for a while!  Here are several views of the sculpture. 

Another sunny day, another beach...  I love sun-bleached wood, and I came a rather large piece of 'driftwood'  in the tidal marshland area at Parson's Beach (below).  My husband has learned to ignore me when I ask him if we can bring home something like this...

or this beauty below, also at Parson's Beach. 

Below, incoming tide, at all three beaches

 

Mainely Maine

 So I planned for this to be an art ed post about creating art with roofing felt, but I have postponed it because when I looked at some of the photos, I realized I needed to re-shoot a few for better quality.  I'm rather picky about photos.  So  in the meantime...

 

...I'm going to do a vacation-sharing post with you!  This past week we were in beautiful Kennebunkport Maine.  Which means, of course, it was time for our annual family beach sand sculpture ridiculousness at lovely Goose Rocks Beach.  In past years our 'best' work has included a cat/mouse standoff, a couple of dragons, an octopus, a Buddha-like cat, and an alligator.  But we were stumped this year, and in the end decided on this large and silly snail, which we named Melvin.  We are by no means sand sculpture authorities; we are just a family having fun at the beach.  So, what Melvin lacked in sophistication, was more than compensated by his monumental size.

 My son, who joined us for the weekend from his home in Boston, dug the sand pile with my husband, and I did the basic design and shaping, with assistance from my son.  My husband found a couple of rosehip buds that became perfect eyes, placed on top of hollow sticks, and my son shaped a piece of kelp into the mouth. Here we are with our work.

 Melvin surveys the incoming tide with trepidation!

Shark! (or maybe driftwood...)

 My  husband and I also spent a day at beautiful Parson's Beach, where I photographed all the driftwood and the crazy blue skies (with a little help from my polarizer).

Below, I caught hubby in what looks to me like a Georgia O'Keeffe moment!

And then another day, on a walk through a nature preserve, we made a beach discovery, at the Wells Preserve at Laudholm Farm.

 First, we walked about 1/2 mile through a wetland trail.

 And found ourselves here.

 Enormous stretches of the most spectacular beach at low tide, with almost nobody there!

I followed my son, also with camera in hand, across sand and tide-pools, for what seemed like miles. He had discovered this tidal inlet (below) that had a reddish cast to the water due to the clay underneath, I presume.  That weird hunk of 'rock' on the right was actually sort of spongy underfoot.  Some sort of clay formation I presume? 

And of course, we ate our fair share of lobsters, clams, and more, but I'll spare you from looking at photos of food.  This isn't Facebook, after all.

When it was threatening to rain, we spent an hour or two roaming around the Old House Parts Company, which we discovered on a rainy day last year.   I took these photos there.

 If you ever need a doornob (they have thousands) or a door, a hinge or a window,  bathtub or a sink, or any of a zillion other strange and wonderful things, this is the place to go! 

 I'll finish this post with a view of a rainstorm over the Goat Island Lighthouse, as seen from Cape Porpoise.  Next post, roofing felt!  Lesson ideas galore!  I promise!!!!