When Nature Joins In (8 Photos)

September 23, 2026

By Vidar

8 ways to make art with nature

David Popa painted a newborn’s face on coastal rock in Finland using earth pigments and water. Elsewhere, pebbles form a portrait, grass winds through a village and shells become a crescent moon.

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 made this version of Leonardo da Vinci’s La Scapigliata in Chiang Mai in 2021, using found stones. He does not paint or cut them, so every color is the stone’s own.

💡 Nerd Fact: Leonardo’s original La Scapigliata is a painting on a small wooden panel, measuring just 24.7 by 21 centimeters (about 10 by 8 inches). It entered Parma’s national gallery in 1839 from the Callani collection.

More: Stone Pebble Portraits by Justin Bateman

🔗 Follow Justin Bateman 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 starts with driftwood that nature has already shaped, and here the weathered strands run well past the body.

More: Driftwood Sculptures by Debra Bernier

🔗 Follow Debra Bernier on Facebook.

$A sleeping infant’s face painted by David Popa across fractured coastal rock at Emäsalo, Finland, seen from above beside dark water and breaking waves.$

🌊 “Born of Nature” — By David Popa with Juuso Hämäläinen in Emäsalo, Finland 🇫🇮

Waves break along the lower edge of the sleeping face, which spreads over the cracked coastal rock at Emäsalo. For Born of Nature, David Popa used natural, washable earth pigments. 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.

💡 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’s death scene was filmed on the same shore.

More: Land and Beach Art by Jon Foreman

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🌙 “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.

🐙 “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.

🌱 “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 420 meters (about 1,380 feet) through the village. Photo: David Monjou.

💡 Geology Fact: Jaujac sits beside the Coupe de Jaujac, a volcano whose eruption has been dated to between roughly 45,000 and 15,000 years ago, making it one of the youngest in the Massif Central. Its lava ran 3.5 kilometers (about 2 miles) 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.

🌳 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.