Imagine walking down the beach, as the sun rises, and spotting this in the sand.

Andrew van der Merwe is a South African calligrapher who sees the beach as his canvas. There’s something heartbreaking about the thought that all of this work is gone forever, swept away by the sea. But, far from mourning their loss, the artist embraces it:

“The work is usually very temporal, often lasting no more than an hour before it is taken by the wind or the tide. I carve the letters in the sand using various instruments and then photograph them with my Nikon D700. I leave no footprints and the tide leaves me with a clean slate.”

The fact that the dents and waves in the sand make the calligraphy look rock-like, permanent just makes the work more breathtaking.

Follow the artist on Behance, and hope for more soon!