Even if we are not architects, we can borrow the 'beauty creation ideas' wherever we go, and get the same kind beauty following in our wake. This makes travel and sightseeing rewarding, as you absorb and re-create the things that you love. They become part of who you are.
I've loved buildings by Architect Greg Burgess for about half my life, so of course it comes out in my drawings, in everything I make. Thats how love works, and how culture works. Gaze at the photo long enough, and it will become part of who you are.
Here are three simple beauty creation 'recipes' you can start using, today.
Make your curves follow each other
Look how Gregs 'up the wall' earthen curve echos the 'along the floor' curve. Curves don't need to repeat each other exactly, but shouldn't ignore each other, or morph into something straight, like Frankenstien cobbled them together. When you arrange flowers, lay a path, or arrange dinner on your plate, get the curves to listen to each other, echo each others line. Then they are bending in the same wind, flowing in the same breeze, yeilding to the same gravitational force, yet doing it their own way.
Let Your Lines be Wobbly
Greg's pillars and panels of wood have been allowed to keep the natural undulations they grew with, not all straightened into conformity in a sawmill that didn't listen to them. Wobbly, wavering lines have a friendliness, if its consistent. When you draw a line on paper, you don't have to zoom from point A to B like a missile. If you do, the lines won't all agree anyway. A slight wobble as you constantly guide yourself back towards your pencil's destination shows you are in the moment, you are not mindlessly compelled by past decisions or directions. Its leisurely and friendly. Cartoonist Michael Leunig uses this wavering line. Maybe its a Melbourne thing.
Obey Gravity
The dark soil is at the bottom, the pale wood panel is on the top. Darker colours are heavy, light colours are ....light! So they go on top. Do this when you stack towels in your towel cupboard, when you pack the boot of your car. As a bonus to looking harmonious, nothing gets squashed.
This week to my amazement, I got to travel to the Simpson Desert with the 'Bathe the World Foundation', a group of people that make dreamy things happen, including the architect of the Uluru Culture Center, Greg Burgess himself. It might be true, that if you follow what captivates you long enough, it becomes your reality.
