During my college years I took two mathematics courses, Perspective Geometry and Geometry in Nature. The later, admittedly, I wished I had paid more attention in. It was a tumultuous time in my life and the class wasn’t anywhere near my list of priorities.
There was however, one thing that stuck with me. The professor, who had been teaching this class for years, had a tradition of bringing in a pineapple during the lesson on fractals. He noted, over the past few years he had found that his grocery market pineapples would on occasion fail to demonstrate the fractals they once did. The natural fractal of the pineapple was disappearing in the modern food systems. Sure enough, the pineapple he picked for that day’s class failed the fractal demonstration. The professor, as a result of his findings from this lesson, urged us to observe.
Recently, my interest in natural geometry has returned to my practice and as a result, into what I observe. I spent the winter painting geometric exercises, including the “Circle of Nine” painting, a 7-circle solution used to divide a circle into 9 equal segments. It was in early Spring, on a morning walk, when I noticed the same pattern in the first flowers that showed up in the neighborhood lawns, the Daffodils. I captured this observation in a painting:“Spring Daffodil and the Circle of Nine”.
“Circle of Nine”
March 11, 2024. Watercolor and Gouache on Cold Pressed Arches Paper. 7”x 10”
“Spring Daffodil and the Circle of Nine”
April 3, 2024. Watercolor and Gouache on Cold Pressed Arches Watercolor Paper. 7”x 10”
