When Nature Becomes Art (8 Photos)

September 8, 2026

By Vidar

Beach stones become a sun. A living hedge becomes hair.

Across all eight works, artists use stones, living plants, mountain views, fallen leaves, native seeds, foraged materials, and even a flowering weed.

More: When Nature Becomes Art (100 Photos)

☀️ “Circuitus Meridiem” — By Jon Foreman at Druidston, Pembrokeshire, Wales 🇬🇧

Foreman sorts beach stones by color, moving from a pale center to dark rays around the edge. The result is a stone sun laid directly on the shore.

💡 Nerd Fact: In his original post, Foreman identifies “Circuitus Meridiem” as a 2025 work made at Druidston in Pembrokeshire and explicitly says the image is not AI-generated.

More: The Art of Stones

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🌺 Garden Afro — By Minoru in Brasília, Brazil 🇧🇷

Minoru painted the portrait directly beneath a dense hedge, using the greenery as the woman’s Afro. Painted flowers and oversized glasses frame her face. As the hedge grows or is trimmed, the work changes.

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🏔️ “Infinite Patience” — By SMUG in Jasper, Alberta, Canada 🇨🇦

Painted for UpLift! Year V on the south wall of the Collar Holdings Building, “Infinite Patience” shows a climber resting against painted peaks. From this viewpoint, the real Rockies rise behind the roofline and continue the mountain scene.

💡 Nerd Fact: The mural shares its title with an alpine route on Mount Robson’s Emperor Face, first climbed by Barry Blanchard, Eric Dumerac, and Philippe Pellet in 2002. Marc-André Leclerc made its first solo ascent on April 17, 2016.

More: 24 Times SMUG Made Walls Look More Real Than Life

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🍂 “Secret In Amber” — By Speker in Beaumont, Texas, USA 🇺🇸

Two mature trees stand directly in front of Speker’s mural at the Beaumont Civic Center. Their trunks and branches cross the amber-lit portrait, part of an ongoing series inspired by Old Master paintings. Light and shadow shift across the wall throughout the day.

💡 Nerd Fact: Speker’s finished-work post confirms the title “Secret In Amber” and credits Alice Fontana as the model. Earlier coverage described the then-untitled design as the aftermath of an unseen event, intentionally left unresolved. The concept included a small bird intended to connect the human figure with the natural world.

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🌱 “Saberes y semillas” — By Louisa Prada in Vereda Puerres, Pasto, Colombia 🇨🇴

Women and a child gather around potatoes and native seeds beneath Galeras volcano. Clay vessels and a pre-Columbian female figure connect the family scene to ancestral farming.

💡 Nerd Fact: Prada describes “Saberes y semillas” as a reflection on food sovereignty and ancestral knowledge of cultivating and harvesting the land. The mural was made during the “Resistencias y Reexistencias 2.0” gathering in Vereda Puerres, Mocondino.

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🍁 “Underground Leafwatcher” — By David Zinn in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 🇺🇸

Zinn uses the joints between slate flagstones as the edges of a small underground room. Fallen maple leaves crowd the opening, and a real twig crosses into the chalk drawing.

💡 Nerd Fact: Zinn’s official archive dates “Underground Leafwatcher” to November 2, 2022, and describes it as a temporary chalk-and-charcoal installation on a leaf-covered Ann Arbor sidewalk.

More: Beautiful Autumn by David Zinn

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🐦 Two Little Warblers and a Tiny Golden-crowned Kinglet — By Hannah Bullen-Ryner in Hertfordshire, England 🇬🇧

Bullen-Ryner builds three tiny birds from foraged materials and sets them inside a circular mosaic of sea-blue pebbles.

💡 Nerd Fact: In her original post, Bullen-Ryner says she made all three birds at the same time—eyes first, then beaks. Her parents collected the sea-blue pebbles at the beach.

More: Nature Is Everything! 18 Artworks by Hannah Bullen-Ryner

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🏆 Urban Weed Awards: Best in Show — By Michael Pederson in Sydney, Australia 🇦🇺

For his 2019 Urban Weed Awards, Pederson installed official-looking plaques beside plants growing in overlooked parts of Sydney. This flowering weed on a damaged wall won “Best in Show.”

💡 Nerd Fact: The series also included awards for “Most Delicate” and “Unique Site.” Pederson’s official Plants archive documents all three interventions.

More: Clever Art by Michael Pederson (17 Photos)

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