A drawing of King Charles has appeared on a Northumberland beach in front of one of the county's most evocative landmarks.
The 90ft by 65ft artwork has been created by Claire Eason of Soul2Sand to prepare for the King's coronation on Saturday, and is the latest of sand artworks by former GP turned artist Claire, who has previously created a postage stamp for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee on the same beach, a Remembrance tribute at Beadnell, and a sea serpent either side of the Holy Island Causeway.
For Claire's latest work, she says she was "absolutely humbled" to create the installation on the beach after being approached by Claire Watson-Armstrong, who owns Bamburgh Castle.
Read more: National walking trail which passes through Northumberland to be renamed after King Charles
Ms Eason told the PA news agency: "I was absolutely humbled because Bamburgh Castle, for anybody who has grown up in the North East, is part of everybody’s DNA, and everybody absolutely loves it. It’s a real icon for the area.
"Bamburgh Castle has long been associated with Northumbrian kings going back thousands of years really… It’s having that royal connection carried on to the present day, which seemed super poignant."
The former GP was inspired by a picture of a textile piece of Charles's portrait made out of sequins shown to her by the team at Bamburgh Castle. She adapted the piece, incorporating the natural ripples in the sand to create the King's face with the aim of paying homage to his advocacy for protecting the environment.
She explained: "What I wanted to do was to try and make a connection between the portrait and the coastal locations. The stripes are to represent the sand striations that happen when the tide comes in and you get those lovely, sculptural, elongated bumps… So that was to echo the sand shapes left by the tide to make up King Charles’s face.
"I kept it really organic because [Charles] seems to be somebody who’s very interested in the environment… I wanted to try and capture a little bit of that as well."
Ms Eason took the images with her drone, along with those mentioned previously, and her Instagram following has built to more than 2,700 and she is always surprised by the number of people who are interested in her hobby. She added: "I was astonished to find that [my art] resonated with people rather than just myself.
"It seemed to, in certain situations, resonate with other people as well and that has just been a joy to find that it’s possible to share it in a group format."
The 58-year-old said there are “many parallels” between her previous job as a GP and her sand art, which is something she did not expect.
Claire finished: "It’s always about people and it’s about listening to what they want, and trying to really drill down and offer them a personal service that is meaningful to them. It’s been quite a revelation to find that I feel quite comfortable in this new life because of what I used to do."
What do you think of the King Charles sand artwork on Bamburgh Beach? Let us know!
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