Pebble Art

Very cool!

From Nice News: For the past five years, British artist Justin Bateman has been creating intricate portraits out of pebbles, with pieces ranging in size from 10 square feet to over 80. Aside from a few permanent commissions, they’re all ephemeral — arranged on beaches and in forest clearings. It wasn’t a medium he set out to master, but it’s since become something of a calling. To date, he’s made 120 works of art using over 1 million stones. “I had no intention to make this many, but as soon as I decide to take a break, a new one starts to play on my mind,” Bateman, 47, writes in a statement shared with Nice News. He adds, “The world is a collection of masterpieces, waiting to be assembled.” Formerly an art lecturer, Bateman began working with pebbles while exploring natural materials for a variety of environmental art workshops he’d developed. He found that the form fit perfectly with his lifestyle: He’s a minimalist who loves to travel. Currently based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, he’s also created pieces in Indonesia and the U.K. Though the portraits take hours to make, the process is meditative, Bateman explains. “It is like being able to control a tiny part of life. In a world where I have no control, I can choreograph this brief dance with the stones and find peace in the process.” See His Pebble Art