With just a stick and a bit of string, local artist Jamie Harkins can transform an empty beach into a work of art.

He's the man behind an array of thought-provoking and inspiring three-dimensional drawings that have been popping up at different spots along Mount Maunganui beach recently.

The ‘impossible skate ramp' created by Mount Maunganui artist Jamie Harkins. Photo: JHA/Facebook

This week he's been at it again, drawing an 'impossible skate ramp” on Thursday and a tornado chasing a silhouetted figure on Wednesday.

'I'm an old skater from back in the day and Tony Hawk follows my Instagram page,” he explains.

'It's cool and really encouraging to have someone like Tony Hawk looking at your stuff. Tony and the Bones Brigade inspired me and my friends as kids to build ramps and to go large.

'So I wanted to send him a message, and I drew a ramp that's impossible to make and impossible to skate. But in a three-dimensional drawing, it's actually possible.”

He also drew a third picture this week – a woman in a large dress – but admits it didn't go down as well as he'd planned.

'I rushed it, and it just looked really weird. I should have practiced drawing dresses more I guess,” he says laughing.

Photo: JHA/Facebook

Jamie's s been creating the larger than life sand drawings for the past two years after being inspired by three-dimensional chalk artists in New York and Germany, whose works he found online.

But necessity is the mother of all invention, and Jamie realised he'd have a problem trying to recreate the chalk designs in the Mount.

'You have to be really careful with what washes into the sea via the drains, and when I looked at how much the chalk would cost, it was something like a couple of hundred dollars each time.

'I'd been drawing on the beach and I thought ‘I might as well go there and do it for free'. It doesn't really hurt anyone or p*ss anyone off – well, I hope not,” he says with another laugh.

So why do it? Why spend hours upon hours creating works of art that will eventually be washed away with the incoming tide?

'I'm just trying to grab people's attention, make a connection and get their imaginations going too,” he says.

'Hopefully they can see that being creative isn't just limited to a canvas and sitting around with paints – it's everywhere.

'When I go to bed, I shut my eyes and imagine what I want to see down on the beach. What I want to do is fill that space, so I let my imagination go wild.”

To view more of Jamie's Harkins' amazing sand drawings and art, visit his Facebook or Instagram pages.

Photo: JHA/Facebook

ANTWARS AND SNAKE OIL PEDDLERS GIG

A man of many talents, Jamie is also the bassist with five-piece band AntWars who are playing the first of many summers gigs down at Imbibe in Mount Maunganui tonight (Friday), from 9pm.

They'll be joined by Hamilton band Snake Oil Peddlers and Jamie adds AntWars will also be releasing a couple of new songs on the night too.

'It's going to be a hell of night,” he says. 'Snake Oil Peddlers are a mean band and good dudes. This'll be an awesome gig for everyone who loves their rock.”

AntWars with Snake Oil Peddlers play Imbibe Bar in Mount Maunganui tonight, from 9pm. Entry is $5. For more information visit AntWar's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/antwars

Mount Maunganui's AntWars are teaming up with Hamilton band Snake Oil Peddlers for a night of rock down at Imbibe Bar on Girven Road tonight. Photo: AntWars/Facebook