Recently I was lucky enough to enjoy a week at the beach with dear friends (and even a sister!). Higgins Beach, Maine, has a very shallow beach, so at low tide there is what feels like a mile of sand between the high tide mark and the water.

I was charmed by the art left in the sand by many hands. It reminded me a bit of the street art my friend E likes to chase, but this sand art is so much more ephemeral. The next high tide will erase the messages and castles. True, most of this work was not done with a great deal of forethought or attention to detail (we’re on the beach, after all, the waves are calling), but the human urge to communicate through words and images is universal. And you never know when an eight-year-old will fall in love with the medium and do ever more sophisticated art.

Things that begin like this:

May someday develop into something like this:

Made by Andras Amador, San Francisco

And something like this:

Can lead eventually to this:

Artist and location unknown

Artist and location unknown

From a sand sculpture event in Australia, artist unknown

Speaking of sand sculpture events, there are many held every year. This site lists ten, but there are many more, perhaps even one near you. As well, there are a million images of sand art on the web, and a bunch of Pinterest groups showcasing the ‘best’ some-high-number of sand creations.

They say every journey begins with the first step, and I have to believe that every serious sand artist begins by drawing with a stick in the sand at the beach. I can’t wait to go back to Maine next year and see what the local artists have made.