Elements of design in nature | elements of nature in design

Line, form, color, texture, contrast, pattern, repetition, movement. All elements of design to consider when creating a built landscape. Finding and studying them in nature helps us recreate them in gardens and understand natural relationships of elements of a harmonious concept.

An assortment of brushes lets the artist do quick washes or paint in fine details.

The light was flat and omnidirectional, so Annette focused on colors and shapes over capturing three dimensional form. Patterns of water, twigs and grasses flow through the painting

Warm colored, streaky grasses bring the foreground closer. Water and egret segue into blends, moving away toward the horizon. (Annette Heacox “Winter Flash”, acrylic 16 x 20″)

Is there a pattern amid the chaos of the branches? This bit of constrained chaos complements the repeating vertical theme of the grasses in the background, their warm color contrasting with the cool grays of the branches.

This patch of plants shows a strong repeating pattern, a counterpoint to the chaos of the willow thickets.

Wind and motion keep things dynamic. Here, a slow shutter speed captures the movement of the grasses as they bend in the wind.

A wall of young vetches covers a hill, tossed by the wind.

The egret created a transitory focal point, made even more interesting by the knowledge that he would not stay long and would have to be enjoyed while the moment lasted.

The branches reach across the scene in directional lines.

These aquatic plants create a colorful pattern of squiggles, moving with wind-stirred wavelets.

Lines in the grasses curve gently to the left. The branch brings things back as it loops gently to the right before rising at its tip.

These scenes juxtapose chaos (willow branches), pattern (grasses, water plants), direction (some willow branches, grasses), color (willow branches, water, grasses, water plants), texture (water, grasses, vetch). Some scenes are worth painting; others not. Much depends on one’s point of view.

Of course, a painter can paint what she imagines instead of brute reality, arranging the elements as she sees fit to create a stronger painting. We do much the same thing designing landscapes: lining up views, overlapping elements here, contrasting them there, putting light against dark or bold against soft.

For dynamism, contrast in color, form and pattern work well: soft against bold, dark against light, movement against stability.

For harmony, subtle changes of pattern, harmonious colors, low contrast and sweeping horizontal lines make calm spaces.

In built landscapes, we can juxtapose bold hardscape with soft, harmonious plants – or do the opposite. Large sculptures emerging from billowy grasses in different hues for the first; stong, architectural plants such as agaves with simple gravel paving for the latter. We can also do both – mix the agaves and the sculpture or the grasses with the gravel.

All schemes can work, as long as there’s a hierarchy where main focal points cede to secondary, to background, to what artists call negative space. This is the calm between features that helps them stand out, easily discerned where they hold they gaze before the secondary items detail pulls you in. Ideally, the design will draw the eye through it in a repeating cycle, only to be redefined as the visitor moves through the garden.