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Adventures in Painting, Tips & Ideas
Nature’s Patterns
February 22, 2025
Nature’s infinite wisdom, her wondrous variety, her ever-revealing nature and our tool of selection …
It has long been recommended, across all disciplines, to look to Nature, for she holds all the answers within her infinite abundance. For us in the Arts, much can be discovered by the simple act of observing the way light dances across a tree, how it reflects through the branches, and how it shifts as the day passes to reveal new delights. Light fascinates the eye and offers exquisite opportunities for expression.
John F. Carlson, in his book, CARLSON’S GUIDE TO LANDSCAPE PAINTING, expresses his admiration by writing:
Study direct from nature. Study to feel, and to know something of her visible functionings. Nature, to the thoughtful, will always remain a vast and delightful storehouse, the fountain of inspiration. Nature is forever providing for the artist untabulated surprises; it is for these that she is to be envied. It is the artist’s privilege and prerogative to capture these miracles and to transmute them into an expressive form.
Although our greatest ally and teacher is Nature, we cannot solely rely on her by attempting to copy everything she presents. She offers an enormous wealth of information, more than we can ever hope to capture in one painting. Carlson writes:
The beginner in painting begins by copying nature in all literalness, leaving nothing out and putting nothing in; he makes it look like the place or person or thing. By and by he will learn to omit the superfluous and to grasp the essentials and arrange them into a more powerful a significant whole. And it is wonderful to know that these "essentials" will be essentials to him only (and herein lies the secret of originality).
Furthermore, another one of my favorites, Edgar Payne, writes ever so poetically in his book, COMPOSITION OF OUTDOOR PAINTING:
Nature does not capriciously scatter her secrets as golden gifts to lazy poets and luxurious darlings, but imposes tasks when she presents opportunities.
I adore how he expresses this, it paints such a visual for me and solidifies how we must uncover the opportunities through our interaction with Nature … that creating is more than just imitating what we see, but rather a filtering process that translates though our personal lens, our own nature.
MORNING FIELD oil on panel, 8 x 16 painted by Katie Swatland –sold, private collection
In my humble opinion, our truest, and most sincere expression lies in our ability to choose. This is where our spirit can infuse in our impressions and our art becomes alive. What we choose to paint is just as important, if not more so than what we choose not to paint. Being highly selective in our choices and our willingness to sacrifice areas to enhance others, will clarify what we wish to express. Painting is a language, a way to communicate and convey our experience. How fortunate we are to have this outlet to explore in! This powerful tool of selection we hold at our disposal holds great power, wielding it with sacred reverence will open endless avenues of exploration.
But how do we know what to select and how to choose? This is such a layered question, with many possibilities, but I think ultimately the answer lies within, and can be uncovered in our quiet. Time spent studying in nature will also help to uncover Nature’s patterns. Even in her myriad of elements, she presents herself in patterns that can be simplified into manageable brushstrokes. One carefully laid stroke with the brush can describe a thousand blades of grass, or hundreds of leaves on a tree branch. Seeing the world in terms of shapes and colors comes with observational practice … but more on this in a future blog.
I’d like to leave you with a quote from a book I am currently reading again from Miyamoto Musashi, titled, THE BOOK OF FIVE RINGS. The following comes from The Book of Wind chapter and states:
Allow the "spirit of the thing itself" to guide your hands accordingly. Always look to the mountain and beyond. This way you will be aware of the broader picture and can easily express with the resolve to do so.
I hope you enjoyed thinking about Nature’s patterns with me, and our invaluable tool of selection that we always have at our disposal. I began these thoughts on a cold February day just before a full moon, watching the sun dance across snow covered branches. I am finishing this now just before the March full moon, watching the patterns of light dance across the leaves in the jungle. Inspired to take my paints out later and explore these patterns, I hope this inspires you to do the same! As always, I’d love to hear from you … your thoughts on this latest blog, or anything on art & the creative process. Please share anything you wish with me below.
May you always remain forever curious,
Katie
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Katie Swatland’s latest book, The Eternal Student offers discoveries, lessons and delights in painting and the creative process.
