The first thing I thought when I saw a snow drawing by Simon Beck is “how the HECK does he do that?” The images are breathtaking… and that’s before you realize that they’re created on an impermanent canvas. Yes, that’s right. This man spends hours and hours creating his images, knowing that moments later they could be swept away.
So why? And how?
Simon Beck Is A Snow Artist With A Vision
Mr. Beck, known as “the snow artist” is inspired by crop circles, snowflakes, and math. He’s the world’s first and most famous person who creates his art this way.
After a day of skiing in 2004, he got the idea to draw a star on the small frozen lake by his house. Once he got into it, he realized that the snow-drawing activity combined his love of both physical activity as well as geometric drawings. He worked up from small designs, and now, his designs cover an area between one to four hectares (around two to eight soccer fields) for just one of his works.
How Are The Snow Drawings Created?
Simon Beck’s methods are absolutely incredible. For instance, he sketches out his work, and then uses a compass. With this tool, he measures out the number of steps he’ll need to take in his snowshoes to create his desired image.
He finds large areas of fresh snow on the sides of mountains, ski hills, and even frozen lakes. However, he’s very careful about how he selects his areas. Ideally they will not be getting snowed on anytime soon!
From there, he starts on a journey for each creation.
How Long Do They Take To Complete?
All of these incredible images take from two to six hours to create. Some, however, can take as much as 12 hours. Further, Mr. Beck will walk for 12 to 19 miles to create these intricate geometric designs.
In addition, he comes up with beautiful names for each of them, such as “Flower of Life”, “Circular Array”, and “10-Pointed Star”.
Two drawings Simon Beck created with his method known as “walking drawing” took a day and a half to create. The first was just blown away. Because of this, much of the time that he spends creating the images is merely re-doing work that’s already been done. He estimates that 25% of his time spent creating is reinstating earlier work.
He enlists volunteers who are eager to help him with his work to tell him if he’s about to take a wrong step, or if a line isn’t the way it’s intended to be.
Further, he also creates images on sand when snow isn’t accessible to him.
Where To Find Simon Beck’s Awe-Inspiring Snow Art
You can follow along with Simon’s incredible work on Reshareworthy.com as well as his Instagram.
