Peter Papamanolis sees himself as "just a guy on the beach" but the father of four has wowed Gold Coast families this summer with large animal sculptures made of sand.
The Brisbane-based jeweller discovered his knack for sculpting on a family holiday to Palm Beach more than 15 years ago.
"I got into it by accident, carving things for the kids with a paddle pop stick," he said.
"Eventually I got better tools, made them [the sculptures] slightly bigger and people started enjoying them. I just enjoy the whole process of it."
When the local newspaper caught wind of his work and published his photo, Mr Papamanolis was asked to design a major sculpture for a conference.
"I said, 'You've got the wrong guy. I'm just a guy on the beach.'"
After convincing his wife to let him buy a sandpit, Mr Papamanolis turned the front yard of their home into a training ground to hone his craft.
An unpredictable craft
His largest installation was moulded from 25 tonnes of sand and took 10 days of indoor sculpting to complete.
Mr Papamanolis said working with the mineral grain had its challenges.
"You have a quiet confidence, but you never know with sand," he said.
"Sometimes it's very unpredictable. You might just be cutting something and take a little bit off, and the head collapses or the nose falls off.
"You might have done it 20 times and then on the 21st time it collapses."
'It brings a bit of joy'
Mr Papamanolis has had his share of interesting encounters while working in public.
"I had a fisherman come up to me on the beach one day and he said, 'Mate, you have a lot of patience, haven't you?'
"I said, 'Mate, you just sit there all day and wait, so I think you've got more patience than me.'"
Bringing joy and wonder to beachgoers is all the motivation Mr Papamanolis needs to create works of art along the water's edge.
"I just love to watch people's reactions. I see their hand actions like, 'Oh wow,'" he said.
"It gives me a good feeling to know people are getting something out if it. It brings them a bit of joy and a bit of wonder too. [They think] 'How did he do that?'"
Mr Papamanolis spent his annual Gold Coast beach holiday preparing for the Beyond the Sand Art Festival at Surfers Paradise in March
Last year he placed second at the event, then known as the Sand Safari Arts Festival, and won the People's Choice award.
"The theme [this year] is carnival circus and I am doing clowns.
" I'll try to keep to the nice, pleasant clowns and do something interesting that will hopefully make people laugh and impress them as well."
