The moon, the lanterns and the sand drawing.

It had rained the whole day but was forecast for clear skies with a full moon.  I had trundled my way up to Northumberland in my van to meet with our Aeroplane man Nigel King.  We were to make our first moon lit sand drawing, just me with a rake, and Nigel behind the camera, occasionally having to nip off to his car to get warm.  I on the other hand was charging around getting the drawing done in the darkness so was quite toasty.

It’s a peculiar thing doing a massive drawing in the dark, as you can’t really see anything.  It is only when the moon comes out from behind a cloud that what you are making is revealed to you in the silvery light.

Photograph by Nigel King blueriverstudios.co.uk

On an off chance I decided to collect some lanterns that I have whilst on the way up to Northumberland, to see if they would work on the beach.  I feared that they would go out in the beach wind, but we had been blessed.  We had earned calm weather during the evening as we had had so much rain earlier on.  Like a windswept wizard I lit the little lanterns and placed them on the ground around the rim of the circle.  There is something rather spiritual and calming lighting candles on a beach under the gaze of the full moon and the twinkle of the stars.  The lanterns are almost like little bundles of life flickering away in the gentle breeze whilst keeping me company.  The exterior of the lit circle is all chaos, and the interior tranquillity.

I occasionally heard Nigel from on top of the cliff shout directions or approval.  He seemed to get very excited at one point and I thought we had really hit the mark until I realised it was because he had nearly dropped his rather plush camera down the cliff.

Photograph by Nigel King blueriverstudios.co.uk

Towards the end of the evening I did start to get a chill so decided to be a little more aerobic and make myself a light igloo with my torch and then run around seemingly without purpose.  I think the fisherman down the way must have thought I was mental.  Afterwards we decided to call it a day and I said goodnight to my lanterns as I blew them out one by one, thanking them for their warm company.  It had been a very nice evening.

Photograph by Nigel King blueriverstudios.co.uk

Jamie