If you've ever stopped to pick up a stone, maybe at the beach or even in your own backyard, you might have marveled at how a simple hunk of rock reminded you of something else.
Maybe a round stone reminded you of how your dog slept curled up, or a long, tapered one looked like a fish swimming in a stream.
Finding hidden beauty in simple rocks is something we can all do, and sometimes, minerals are downright gorgeous in their own right. But sometimes, they need an artist's touch to bring out the beauty in their forms.
Michela Bufalini is an artist from Italy's Tuscany region, and she embellishes stones with bright colors and designs to create beautiful, 3D scenes.
Simple stones of different sizes, textures, and shapes become trees, flowers, animals, and even people. Sometimes a single stone is used to create an object, and sometimes, Bufalini stacks them to create a larger image.
Check out her work below, and the next time you see a pebble or a stone on the ground, imagine what you could turn it into with a little paint!
[H/T: BoredPanda]
Thumbnail Photo: J & R Garden
Artist Michela Bufalini creates artwork that's half-painting, half-sculpture, using found stones that she paints and arranges into scenes.
By carefully selecting stones of certain shapes and sizes, Bufalini can create fairly complex scenes.
"My original designs were simple faces shaped out of uneven stones," she says, "yet as time passed, they unfolded into portraits, trees, animals, hills, forests, and abstract elements."
She can create just about anything. She also adds details to her pieces with twigs, paper, and string.
Sometimes, like with these fish, she leaves part of the stone unpainted, so the natural, unique color can make for an interesting contrast.
So why stones?
"The challenge of taking an object that is generally considered to be of little interest and turning it into a work of art is what inspires me to bring life and beauty into an otherwise overlooked element of nature," Bufalini explains.
She also takes inspiration from nature, creating images of the natural world, as well as by using elements from nature to make them.
With painted details, the stones become simple but incredibly effective pieces of art. They're lovely on their own, but assembled into a larger image, they become really stunning.
By combining different colors and patterns, Bufalini's artwork is almost like a patchwork quilt made of stones.
And with each piece, her work is always evolving and growing.
Sometimes, she even creates more sculptural pieces by standing the stones on their ends or stacking them in new ways.
This collection of stones became a cute little island with hills, a lighthouse, and a little cabin!
And these painted plants are a stylish, adorable take on artificial flowers.
"I do not follow the technical rules of contemporary artistic expression," Bufalini says. "I create for myself."
And as you can see, making up your own rules makes for some truly unique artwork.
By layering and arranging stones, Bufalini can create some highly complex pieces.
