The theme of this year’s Hawkesbury International Sand Sculpting competition, The Lost World, wasn’t an easy one for last year’s winner Jino Van Bruinessen, but all the hard work had paid off after he was re-crowned his title last week.
After weeks of not knowing what he was going to carve, the Lawson sculptor said he still didn’t know what he was trying to create right up until he was working on the piece.
“I didn’t really know what to do, even when I was carving. I had no idea but then I got really into it and I just went where my hands took me,” Mr Van Bruinessen said.
“The only thing I decided was I wanted to go for a pre-historic ocean creature.
“This is the end result. It went the way it went and this was the creature that was formed,” he said.
After being crowned first place in the competition for two consecutive years, Mr Van Bruinessen said this year’s theme brought a different vibe from the very start of the competition.
“It was interesting this year... people were telling me I was running straight into the winning prize while I was still working on it,” he said. “It helped me and felt so good to receive such great positive feedback so early in the competition this year.”
But if there was one thing Mr Van Bruinessen would like to see added to the competition in the near future it would be a ‘sculptors’ choice award’.
“They don’t do the sculptors’ award here, but they should... sculptors see things differently and it is always good for us to receive feedback from other sculptors,” he said.
The sand sculptures are currently on display at McQuade Park, Windsor, until January 26.