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LED-Enhanced Kites Paint The Sky With Dazzling Light Art

Artist Francois Beaurain's flowing, kite-powered light art is cool—his GIFed process documentation, however, takes it to the next level.
Images courtesy of the artist

French photographer, sculptor, and illustrator Francois Beaurain says he "likes to explore new horizons," a mandate he takes quite literally with his latest photo and cinemagraph series, a group of of kite-powered LED Sky Paintings. During daylight hours unfit for traditional light art, he "paints" by overlapping timelapse footage of his kites in the same way we've seen roombas create a "Roombacalypse" and birds block out the sky.

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To create his light-painted landscapes, Beaurain attaches small LEDs to his kites, flies them in swoops and loops any kite enthusiast would envy, and captures their pathways with a long-exposure camera. Framed above the achingly beautiful summer beaches of Soulac-sur-Mer in the southwest of France, the Sky Paintings combine stunning natural beauty with the abstract aesthetics of light art. By night, the glowing, flowing paths of the LEDs compliment the twinkling stars and the shadowy dunes by the beach. By day, the kites add dynamic movement to the otherwise serene blue skies and wide oceanside sands.

Beaurain's two techniques capture the dynamic pathways a kite cuts through seaside gusts, but illustrate them with opposite forms, colors, and file formats. Scroll through Beaurain's kite-painting images and GIFs below to see the amazing diversity the artist captures with just a camera, a kite, and a couple of LEDs.

Visit Beaurain's website here for more of his reality-bending projects.

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