The End of Anise

For the second design exercise, our small group decided to again go with something out of   Design by Nature: Using Universal Forms and Principles in Design (Voices That Matter) .  This one was about finding patterns in nature.  First we were to choose a natural object and draw it everyday in our sketchbook.   I choose the end of a bunch of anise.  When I chopped it off, I was struck by all the patterns and interesting shapes and structures.

Since it would be changing soon (decomposing!) I took a lot of pictures of it.

And I even scanned it.  My son saw me doing it and just kind of shook his head and asked no questions.  At this point, he knows better, otherwise it's an art lecture from mom.

Then of course I had to fool around with the scan in Photoshop. I really loved how this filtered treatment brought out all the structures and patterns so clearly. 

Next we were supposed to start detailing the patterns from the object, exploring the details of it and expanding upon them in our sketchbook.

I also decided to carve a stamp based on one of the line drawings I did which emphasized the shapes and patterns I found most interesting.

 

My ink is getting a little old and gloopy and I need a padded stamping surface, so some of the stamped versions are too splotchy.

But I got at least one that I was able to use to make the small quilt (8.5 x 11") our group had decided to do as "homework".

It was supposed to be 3-D in some way, so I stuffed the stamped image of the anise.  But I wasn't happy with it, it was too literal, and "the usual" for me, and definitely cheating a bit on the 3-d aspect. I wanted something else, so I made a second one.

This is much more 3-D and much less literal.  I used lutradur and steam-a-seam to stiffen the folded fabric and then ironed the folds in.  

A closer view of the folding.
All in all, it was a really useful exercise, and is one I think I could repeat it many times.