May 2010 I was on the Washington coast in the little vacation town of Seabrook. A short walk from the house and you were on the beach. I've always loved the beach, even when it's too cold to swim. I love the sound of waves crashing, the fresh salty smell in the air, building in castles in the sand. This particular day I was alone on the beach for, I guess a couple hours. I really lost track of time while gathering and assembling various pieces of driftwood, crab shells, kelp, and even an old tire. I didn't really have a plan or vision from the beginning, only an impulse of what needed to be where. The result, I'm not really sure what it really was supposed to be but it turned out rather massive. It actually remained for a few weeks.
The next year when I returned to the same beach I was reminded of my piece of random beach art. While walking the beach, enjoying the wind, there wasn't a great inspiration to make something like the previous year.
This last April, I again was in Seabrook, on the beach. The day was actually really unpleasant. Cold steady misty rain carried bitterly on the incessant wind. Despite the conditions the desire to build had returned. I began with a stump, and driftwood. I wanted to make a sort of sand castle fortress. I found a very cool stick and crab shell to make my little alien creature to live in the fortress. I didn't actually build as much as I wanted to, but the miserable conditions of the day won and I left after taking some quick photos.
What is most appealing to me about these, and even something I've loved about sandcastles, is the spending time building, creating, there is the memory and feeling of doing it. A moment of passion, then is left behind. It will crumble and fall in time or be crushed but what mattered was it's short existence.