THIS IS NEW : Painting a picture of pregnancy: The expectant mothers decorating their baby bumps with incredible works of art

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Body art: The blooming mother-to-be on the left has flowers all over her belly, while the lady on the right complements her baseball painting with a mitt and bat

Vonetta Berry, a body painter based in Houston said that she finds a pregnant stomach the ideal surface for painting on.

She told the Huffington Post: 'The first belly I painted was my own.

'My first instinct is that, since it's round, I should do something round. But I wanted to play with shades and make a flat surface design look by using shades.'

 

Each work of art takes between three to five hours to create, depending on how elaborate the design is, and she gets paid as much as $700.

While flowers is a popular pick, Ms Berry describes that her favourite request was from a women who wanted an oven painting on her stomach with a bun inside.

Many women also use face paints to decorate their own baby bump.

Manufactured to be gentle on the skin, face paints shouldn't stain, although it's advisable to first test any paint on a hidden section of your body to make sure it can be removed easily.

Magical: An unborn baby graces the stomach on the left, while the woman on the right opted for a goldfish bowl

A dolphin and turtle swim in harmony (left), and cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants is recreated (right)

These three expectant mums opted for an underwater theme

Cheerful: Cartoon faces are a popular option

A detailed painting of a dragon (left) and a spherical map of the world (right)

The unborn baby inside the stomach on the left is bound to be a music lover later in life, while the mum-to-be on the right painted a summer's day on her bump