(CNN) — People have been making marks in the sand throughout history. For some, it’s a meditative practice. For most, it’s a way to sign your name on a vacation beach. For Dubai-based Filipino artist Nathaniel Alapide, it’s how he became a Guinness World Record holder.
Dubai’s 72 kilometers (45 miles) of sun-bleached coastline, and the vast Arabian desert, are his canvas. Using only a simple garden rake, each morning (after checking the weather, wind and tide reports) Alapide, 45, draws enormous calligraphic strokes across the beaches and deserts, rendering huge and complex designs that are soon erased by wind or waves.
“I try to really imagine the rake as a brush,” he said. “When you move it at a certain angle it will give a different stroke, a thinner line.”
The average drawing for Alapide is around 20 meters (66 feet) squared. “Sometimes I’ll do a work that will take an hour,” he said. “Or sometimes I work every day for hours to create.”
When he includes a written message, the…
