Nature on Paper

By Alexandria Liu

   Flowers, something as old as time, is something that I still find soothing and calming; simple and pleasant to look at, yet complex to capture and draw. How can something be simple and complex at the same time? I'll get to that later. First, let me give credit to who it belongs, I did not make this sketch. Alexandria Liu made it upon my request for something calming to hang on my wall. Her talent will far exceed what I can place on paper but hopefully my photography will spread this art further than the physical piece can.


   Drawing has never been my strong side (it's rather weaker then my weakest side) but that doesn't exclude me from having some around. The design on a medium, be it canvas, film, or in this case, plain white paper, is what should stand out. There should, first and foremost, be no critique as to what was used in the creation of art because only the art itself should stand out. And that's how I critique this design.


    It's rather interesting choice of a piece of nature to capture. There are many details that go into the creation of design. Let's start with one of the easiest detail: color. Do I want to be experimental in my art and design or do I want to stick with realism? Having made a choice, we either copy what nature has provided (soft greens, vibrant purples, and gray shadows) or we experiment (neon greens, rainbow leaves, and so on). Now that we have two details down (natural colors and the subject of a flower), we move to the next step. What to include besides the flower? A flower by itself may become too focused and get too boring, but too many flowers and stems will clutter the design with unnecessary junk. So, the artist picked a good balance between full open flowers and flowers that are still budding and the in between.
 
    Some people see this and think "WTF... why would you include buds when they're so ugly?" Well, it's because there rarely are any flowers in nature that will have all of it's flowers in full bloom and no buds; but also because it gives a complexity to the design. Flowers in full bloom at nice to look at; but things in nature also die as we see withering flowers near the bottom and the buds give you something to look forward to. It gives the design a a sense of time: the present, past, and future. But besides all this, it gives something that all still artwork and design should have: LIFE.

Design is complicated. This piece of art is both simple and complex (making it complicated). This is design.