rock lines

I often take photos of  linear patterns in nature and man made objects that please me, and this one has probably been as influential as any on the quilting treatment I came up with for Ebb& Flow 14 posted below.  Man made objects tend to include straighter lines than nature.  In nature you can find rocks, cliffs, stones and pebbles, beaches, bodies of water from motionless to surging wildly; and plants and all their parts, animal shapes and their markings, are just some of the sources for inspiration there.  Man made objects range from the wooden, ceramic, textile, metal, glass, lather and more, with an infinite variety of patterning applied through anormous range of processes from digital computer aided  techniques and more traditional processes including but not limited to etching,  carving, painting, drawing, stitching, weaving,  printing knitting, embossing, dluing – I could go on.

My point today is, that in even in an environment you pass through every day there can be something really interesting at your feet, eye level or above if you just look.  It also pays to have either a piece of paper and pencil at hand at all times, or better still a little digital camera to capture what atchs your eye – and always take the highest resolution you can, too.   It’s a matter of opening your eyes.  One of my friends here says Montevideoans don’t look up as they walk along and so don’t appreciate the wonderful architectural details that are all around them in this city.  Well, that’s partly because of the hazardous state of many foot paths,  with missing or broken pavers,  and sections of paving pushed up by tree roots – but the trees are quite marvellous ,and there’s the tradeoff.  Other hazards include dog poop (not as bad as it used to be) horse droppings (there are fewer horse and cart people around, licences are being retired) or even heaps of what I used to think was not very well digested horse droppings- but it is the blobs of used (greenish) mate,  the tea-like infusion Uruguayans drink all day long.  There are set rituals associated with it, but they don’t seem to include thoughtful disposal of the leafy dregs – on the other hand, perhaps it is thoughtful to drop them right in the footpath where the unwary could step….

I was prompted to post by a blog I just visited, http://margaretsteinhauer.blogspot.com where this artist includes some of her wonderful photography that she  uses to inspire her art quilt designs.  What struck me looking at some of them just now was that I have similar pictures in my own files, especially including a dendritic  pattern left on sand by the receding tide.  Maybe she and I walked the same beach on the same day at much the same hour 🙂