Top tips for your beach art creation

Bermuda’s beaches will soon be adorned with beautiful, abstract patterns etched into the sand.

The second annual Beach Art Festival is back next month and will welcome international beach artist Andy Coutanche to the island. Using a rake and the sand, teams must choose a beach and create a piece of art to compete for the $500 cash prize.

But how do you even begin to come up with the concept of a piece of beach art, let alone create one?

Organizer and avid beach artists Nicky Gurret has some top tips for those thinking of entering.

How do you go about creating a piece of beach art?

The first thing to do is look at the beach and do a little sketch before. Is it a crescent beach? Linear? Just a cove? Then draw what you think you are going to do. Don’t worry too much about the detail. When you look at beach art you really have to look at it from a distance and take a picture. People need to look at the big picture.

Sometimes the beach gives you a kind of clue of what you want to do. Does it have any features in it that you can then use in your design?

The best beach art acknowledges its site. It uses it to frame what you are doing in a way that suits your art. If it is a long beach then something quite linear might work, if it’s a short beach then maybe not so much. If it has a feature then bring that in — suppose there is a cave on the beach you can use it to bring your art out of it.

Or let’s say there is a rock in the middle of the beach — use it as your focal point and do your beach art around the rock.

Why does so much beach art tend towards the abstract?

There is more abstract work because it is very hard to get details or to get shading. But if you look at Andy Coutanche he is starting to get shading in his work – there is a gradation that makes it look 3D. So it is developing but normally it is just black and white like contrast there is no different grades of grey. Having said that people are allowed to try anything there are no rules per se.

What is the most important element?

The concept is so important because it is such a big piece. A strong concept is key even more so than other art.

Any other tips?

Go to our Facebook page — Bermuda Beach Art and you will see lots of examples of what people have done.

The Beach Art Festival takes place on beaches across the island on March 23. Nicky Gurret will host a work shop on Horseshoe Bay this Sunday from 1pm to 2pm, bring a rake if possible. There will be more workshops on March 20, 21 and 22 on Horseshoe Bay from 4pm to 6pm.
There will be free yoga classes from11am to noon on Elbow Beach and Horseshoe Bay, and wind and kite surfing, paddleboard and scuba diving demos on Horseshoe Bay from 11am to 3pm. There is also a Playmobil competition (under 12) from 11am to 1pm on Horseshoe.To enter the competition contact Nicky Gurret at [email protected] or Lynne Matcham at [email protected].
Reserve you beach by Friday, March 8 and submit photos of you entry by email by 4pm on Saturday March 23rd. Prize giving is at 6pm at the grass beach terrace at Elbow Beach.