When Nature Joins In (8 Photos)
By Vidar
8 ways to make art with nature
Pebbles form a woman’s face, petals become an octopus, and a figure emerges from driftwood. Twigs make a tiny ladder between two trees, and pale shells trace a crescent moon on a Welsh beach.
More: When Street Art Meets Nature (40 Photos)
🪨 “La Scapigliata” — By Justin Bateman in Chiang Mai, Thailand 🇹🇭
Pale pebbles catch the light across the forehead and cheeks, while darker stones shape the hair and lowered eyes. Justin Bateman works with found stones; his 2021 portrait in Chiang Mai recreates Leonardo da Vinci’s La Scapigliata. The colors are the stones’ own. Bateman does not paint or cut the pebbles; he picks them by tone.
💡 Nerd Fact: Leonardo’s original La Scapigliata is a painting on a small wooden panel, measuring just 24.7 by 21 centimeters. It entered Parma’s national gallery in 1839 from the Callani collection.
More: Stone Pebble Portraits by Justin Bateman
🔗 Follow Justin Bateman on Instagram.
🐙 “Octopus” — By Hannah Bullen-Ryner
Red and yellow petals stretch into curling arms around a body of dark pebbles and pale shell fragments. Hannah Bullen-Ryner laid the pieces directly on the cracked ground. She says she works with locally found natural materials and no permanent fixings.
More: Art Made from Nature by Hannah Bullen-Ryner
🔗 Follow Hannah Bullen-Ryner on Instagram.
🌊 A Figure in Driftwood — By Debra Bernier of Vancouver Island, Canada 🇨🇦
A face and a hand come out of the grain of a long piece of driftwood. Trees are reflected in the water below. Debra Bernier works with wood already shaped by nature and follows its curves. Here, the weathered strands run well past the body.
More: Driftwood Sculptures by Debra Bernier
🔗 Follow Debra Bernier on Facebook.
🌱 “Tapis Rouge!” — By Gaëlle Villedary in Jaujac, France 🇫🇷
A strip of grass bends around a street corner and continues between the stone walls and steps of Jaujac, a village in the Ardèche. Gaëlle Villedary made Tapis Rouge! for Jaujac’s Art and Nature Trail in 2011. The temporary route used 168 rolls of lawn and stretched roughly 420 meters through the village.
💡 Geology Fact: Jaujac sits beside the Coupe de Jaujac, a volcano whose eruption is dated to roughly 45,000 to 15,000 years ago, making it one of the youngest in the Massif Central. Its lava ran 3.5 kilometers along the Lignon river, which has since cut through the flow and exposed its basalt columns.
More: The Green Carpet in Jaujac
🔗 Visit Gaëlle Villedary’s website.
🌊 “Born of Nature” — By David Popa with Juuso Hämäläinen in Emäsalo, Finland 🇫🇮
A sleeping infant’s face spans the cracked coastal rock, with waves breaking along its lower edge. David Popa painted Born of Nature with earth pigments mixed with water. Photographer Juuso Hämäläinen combined six drone photographs to capture the finished work and the shoreline around it.
More: Born of Nature by David Popa
🔗 Visit David Popa’s website and Juuso Hämäläinen’s portfolio.
🪨 “Flos Tholus” — By Jon Foreman at Freshwater West, Wales, UK 🇬🇧
Rows of rounded pebbles form a low, round mound, with smaller stones spread across the sand around the edge. Jon Foreman made Flos Tholus in 2024 at Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire, arranging triangles that get smaller toward the outside. The stones come from the beach itself.
💡 Film Fact: Freshwater West was used for beach scenes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Shell Cottage, the home of Bill and Fleur Weasley, was built on the beach and dismantled after filming. Dobby dies on the same shore.
More: Land and Beach Art by Jon Foreman
🔗 Follow Jon Foreman on Instagram.
🌳 A Twig Ladder — By James Brunt
Thin twigs span the gap between two tree trunks, with small red fruits on alternating ends. James Brunt made a tiny ladder, and the trees are its sides.
More: Land Art by James Brunt
🔗 Visit James Brunt’s website.
🌙 “Shell Moon” — By Jon Foreman at Sandy Haven Beach, Wales, UK 🇬🇧
Pale shells form a crescent on the sand, each opening facing upward. Jon Foreman made Shell Moon in 2025 at Sandy Haven Beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The shells get smaller toward the two tips. The bare sand fills in the rest of the circle.
More: The Art of Stones by Jon Foreman
🔗 Follow Jon Foreman on Instagram.
Which one is your favorite?
Street art, straight to your inbox
New stories from Street Art Utopia. Choose how often they arrive.
