KILLARNEY artist Paul Stumkat has embarked on a new creative path transforming large patches of land into a work of art.

He hopes to soon make his mark on Southern Downs land, as he takes part in the Art in Soil Initiative run by Soil Science Australia.

"Landholders tend to get stuck in a rut a bit with what they do with the land,” he said.

"I see the land like a canvas, like a painting.”

The Art in Soil Initiative aims to raise awareness about the importance of soils.

A strong advocate for using local materials for artwork to promote the region, Mr Stumkat said large-scale creations can be tourist attractions.

"I like the idea of promoting our landscape for tourism and creating an awareness of towns and communities,” he said.

As far as he was aware, this was the first time such large-scale earthwork has been created in Australia.

"It's a good groundbreaker, there's no use doing what someone else has done,” Mr Stumkat said.

"It's using a medium people don't think about using.

"When you deal with the landscape there's a different awareness of what's available to you.”

Mr Stumkat has already completed one artwork as part of the initiative.

The piece is a 250m x 375m earth carving at Marathon Station at Richmond in Queensland.

The outline of an ammonite, a type of fossil that resembles a shell, was carved into the earth using a tractor and plough.

Mr Stumkat said he had previously created a sculpture of an ammonite and transferred this design into a grid.

Then 300 pegs were laid out on the earth to mark the path for the tractor, which was driven by the land's owner Rob Ievers.

"I'm hoping that'll become a great landmark and people will want to look at it on Google,” he said.

Mr Stumkat predicts the piece will last a 1000 years.

In the Southern Downs he envisages using different coloured crops or planting in patterns to draw attention to the science behind soil.

As a landholder himself, Mr Stumkat knows first-hand the vital role soil plays in providing food, clothing and other necessities.

"If I don't have soil, I don't have grass. If I don't have grass, I don't have cows. If I don't have cows, I don't have income,” he said.

"They're the crux of all civilisation.”