The closest I’d come to ‘sand art’ was building wobbly sandcastles on the beach.

So standing at the foot of a 4.5-metre high Charles Darwin, made entirely of sand, is pretty breathtaking.

Standing on a huge mound of sand, chipping away at Darwin’s face, is sand sculptor Jamie Wardley, who works around the world transforming grains of sand into an array of wonderful structures, from animals to battle scenes.

He’s using 90 tonnes of sand to create his Darwin sculpture, marking the bicentenary of the naturalist’s birth and the 150th anniversary of Origin Of The Species. It’s the centrepiece of Garden Magic, a week of family events in Centenary Square, starting on Monday. Surrounding Darwin will be five smaller sand sculptures, created by students from Jamie’s workshops.

Taking a break from his Darwin sculpture – the biggest he’s attempted in this country – Jamie helps me make my own sand sculpture. We start with a pile of sand in a plastic surround, like a big bucket. I flatten the top of the sand, making it more compact, then we pull off the ‘bucket’ and set to work.

Beginners normally start off with an abstract shape, getting used to the feel of the sand, the contours, shadows and curves of the changing shape, and the tools. Jamie starts with a chainsaw and shovel to carve the basic form, followed by various-sized trowels, artists’ knives, chisels, brushes, even a feather duster.

Jamie suggests I try sculpting a face. Looking at the lump of sand in front of me, I can’t imagine it as anything resembling a face, but here goes. We carve an oval ‘Viking helmet shape’ as Jamie calls it, using a trowel, then draw a line down the middle and across. “When sculpting a figure, you work through various body parts, it’s the same with a face,” says Jamie. “Use the eyes to map the face.” He shows me photographs of Darwin he’s working from. “He was quite weathered by this stage of his career, I’m trying to capture that world-weary look.” I flatten the cheeks to create a rounder shape, then, using something resembling a spatula, mould a nose, carving outwards so it flares out at the bottom. With Jamie’s guidance, I cut two lines above and carve out sand from underneath, creating the look of eyebrows, then mould eyeball shapes in “It’s difficult to get both eyes the same – you can change a whole expression with just a brush of sand. If the top lid is slightly over the pupil your face can end up looking drunk or tired. If a face is smiling, the cheeks bulge and the eyelids go up. Generally, you go with your instincts. If it looks wrong, it probably is.”

It starts looking like a face, albeit the rather stern face of an Easter Island statue. Jamie advises me to keep checking the profile, using the trowel to carve bits of sand away where needed. The beauty of working with sand is it’s flexible; you can grab a handful and mould it in or scrape bits off.

We’re using building sand, supplied by Uriah Woodhead & Son. “It’s younger than beach sand,” says Jamie. “The grains are angular, whereas beach grains are round because they’ve been rolled by the sea for millennia. Beach sand falls apart fairly quickly, there’s no silt and clay to bind the grains. They last as long as they’re damp. Building sand sculptures can last for months.”

Jamie’s Darwin sculpture is regularly sprayed with water, to maintain the ‘workability’ of the sand. He’ll cover it in a glue solution once it’s complete.

Back to my sculpture, and it’s time to shape the mouth. I cut a line and Jamie shows how to cut into the sand and scrape away, creating a top lip. He makes it look easy but I find it tricky to carve away without a load of sand falling in. Eventually I create something resembling a mouth.

It’s quite an angry face, but with a little scraping and brushing it takes on a softer look. When Jamie sticks his hat on top it looks quite human.

It strikes me that Jamie must become quite attached to his sculptures, so how does he feel when they’re eventually bulldozed? “I don’t usually see that bit,” he says. “For me, the pleasure comes with working on it. I get lost in ‘the zone’, it’s very absorbing.” A former Buttershaw School pupil, Jamie discovered sand sculpting eight years ago in Norway. After introducing himself to leading sand sculptor Daneel Foyer, who was working outside a church, Jamie had turned two blocks of sand into the Queen and Mr Bean in just one morning. Daneel was so impressed he invited him to work in his Oslo studio. “I had a feel for it and a raw talent, but I’ve learned techniques along the way,” says Jamie.

In summer 2006, he was the only British artist picked to create a spectacle for Brighton’s Sand Sculpture Festival. Around 10,000 tonnes of sand was used to carve the shape of the Rome Colosseum, temples, ampitheatres and other historic images. The finished work was covered with a layer of a protein similar to egg-white to prevent the sand blowing away. Jamie worked on promotions for the Thunderbirds movie and, last Christmas, was commissioned by Calderdale Council to create sculptures including a goose, a golden egg and a ballerina.

Jamie, who has a degree in environmental protection, runs his business, Sand In Your Eye, and holds workshops in sand sculpting. He’s expanded into ice and snow carving and is keen to try stone, but he says sand enables him to create more subtleties and facial expressions.

  • For more about Jamie’s work, e-mail jamie@ sandinyoureye.co.uk or visit sandinyoureye.co.uk. Garden Magic runs in Centenary Square from Monday to Sunday.