Sand In Your Eye jumped at the chance to create a series of sand drawings for Tiree Music Festival in Scotland. A small but incredible island, it is the most westerly of the Inner Hebrides, just past the Isle of Mull, and has white sandy beaches and the most sunlight in the UK, “the Hawaii of the North”– a great place for a working holiday!

Sand artists Claire Jamieson, Jamie Wardley and daughter Florence packed up Bungle, our trusty VW T25 Campervan and made the epic 384 mile trek with Rich Spence and Jamie’s sister Emma in convoy, including a ferry from Oban across Loch Linnhe, through the sound of Mull and out into the Atlantic, hugging the islands til we reached Tiree. It was a mission to get there but well worth it.

Tiree has a year round population of 650 but every year for the past 9 years, the  locals have organised a music festival, welcoming 2000 people to share the beauty of the island, listen to Scottish and international musicians and enjoy the chilled out, intimate vibe. The atmosphere was so relaxing and friendly –we even managed to watch the World Cup semi-final thanks to some generous Scots who set up a TV propped on a kayak at the campsite, as that was the only place with any reception. Very kind as the Scots aren’t always known to be sympathetic towards English football fans. Sadly as you know, England were knocked out.

Watching the footy!

The festival wasn’t just about music, they also ran a programme called Elements exploring the four most common elements in Tiree – sea, sun, sand and wind. Can you guess which one we were?! A series of sand drawings were made during our time in Scotland, the first day we created some sand art of logos associated with the festival.

The next day we made an anamorphic sand drawing of a lobster.

We then ran sand drawing workshops on the last day. We turned the beach into a huge canvas for festival goers to make their own beach art about what the festival means to them. Some of the rake art was so creative, it was interesting to see what people came up with.

We had a fantastic time at the Tiree Music Festival and would highly recommend it, even though we were there for work, we managed to find time to enjoy the festival and it was great for all the family.