Full Of Beans: Italian Artist's Coffee Creations

Giulia Bernardelli uses all different kinds of beans to make her images, which also include portraits of Hollywood icons and scenes from fairy tales.

The Italian artist has been grinding away since July last year, and says her main inspiration is everyday life.

The 28-year-old said: “Materials and products that are part of my life provide me with great potential for art creation.

“Coffee in particular has very interesting and powerful shadows, which become useful and enriching for my artwork.

“I like to create compositions with different and diverse elements, which become part of the artwork, beyond the simple image."

Alongside Amy Winehouse, actresses Ava Gardner and Marilyn Monroe also feature in Giulia's work.

One of the pieces took Giulia just ten minutes to make, while others have taken up to two days.

The artist, who lives in Mantua in northern Italy, said: "I try not to plan too far ahead of the composition.

“I usually look at the materials at my disposal in order to produce a composition, with elements which are always part of the same category.

"For instance, when I create an artwork with coffee, I don't use a brush, but I use spoons and toothpicks and fingers.”

Giulia works as a bookseller in the Ducal Palace Museum in Mantua, and has used wine, spices, and chocolate to make artworks in the past.