Nature Imitating Art

Hiking in southern Utah refilled my creative well and I discovered an architectural masterpiece in the desert. Last year at this time I was visiting everything Gaudi in Barcelona before heading to Morocco to teach an art retreat. Gaudi used nature as his inspiration to create the incredible buildings in Barcelona. Sagrada Familia is his crowning glory, and I was brought to tears when I entered, and I felt like I was walking into the most incredible forest. The pillars grew as trees and supported flowers reaching for the sky as the most amazing light streamed through the windows. As much as I loved the Cathedral, I was fascinated and loved the intimacy of his houses.

Antoni Gaudi used biomimicry to design his buildings. The roof supports in Casa Batlló were inspired by the skeleton of a whale and the rooftop structures on Casa Mila are designed after termite mounds for distributing weight, but I found their twins in nature in Utah.

Nature and biomimicry is my go-to for developing new bodies of work. Currently I am working in nature, using the earth, trees, and plants as my canvas and tools. I can always spot another artist when I am traveling because they are the ones taking photos of cracks in the sidewalk, lichen growing on rocks, or old peeling paint and other similar textures. 

Look to nature to inspire your next composition, palette, or even the canvas you are painting on. Be like a child and paint with different clays and dirt. I love to mix in sand to my acrylics and add natural pigments to my already existing colors. Hiking is my way to touch the colors and textures that I bring back to the studio. 

I love to make a composition with seeds, plants, and rocks and leave them for someone to discover. In my last book I shared how to make small clay sculptures that would dissolve and merge back into the earth with the rains. We are all connected and finding beauty and inspiration happens not only in museums but also in the valleys and trails around us.

I am fortunate to live in incredible beauty in the southwest, but every area has its own natural beauty. Take a walk in your town and see with fresh eyes. Here is a link to an interesting short read on the biomimicry of Gaudi.