infinite patterns

From the intricate swirls on our fingertips to the serated lines cut into the facade of a tall steepled cathedral, patterns create a sense of orderliness to our unruly world. Everywhere you look, you can see a pattern etched into creation. A steel framed bridge arching across the river. The striped summer awnings bringing welcome shade to a veranda. The worn varnished hardwood of an old staircase which holds the stories of the family who uses them day in and out. The plaid covering a wingback chair.........patterns perform sameness balance pleasing to the eye. The corrugated red roof on a barn. The pleats of a little girl's dress. Patterns act as the guide for a photographer, painter, writer, sculptor, architect, engineer, carpenter, dancer, musician, a dressmaker, a designer. Patterns impact every creation.

What intrigues me the most, however are the patterns of nature because they continue to evolve and redesign themselves through the ebb and flow of the elements. Look at the twilight sky. Its hues of blue cut by the thin streaked clouds, a little ochre of orange like a ribbon wrapped above the horizon. Watch the pebble thrown into the stillness of a pond. The ripples flow outward into an infinite calm wave until it folds back into the water. See the wind catch a field of unmowed hay. It waves to you, inviting you to learn its dance steps. Feel the waves of an incoming tide spray up onto the shore. It churns change as it digs up the sand and moves the bars with its brute strength. Focus on the morning glisten caught in a newly formed spider's web. The dewdrops seemingly hang in the air, held only by the finest threads. Look deep into the woods. The trees, with its vertical wrapping of bark, stretch up into the open air sending its branches out to weave and wave into another neighbouring tree.

The patterns of nature are never still. They continue to reinvent themselves, adding nuances to their lovely imperfections through the elements. Altered by light's brilliance, the shades shift the timbral tone turning it into a completely different schema, forcing our thirsty eyes to adjust their focus. Everywhere you turn, patterns exist as a melody for our senses, as a test of our awareness, as a means for us to merge into our surroundings, as an element of awakening that stretches our imagination beyond the mundane. Nature feeds our imagination which in turn motivates us to actively produce our individual artistry. It is a never ending show of art.

What is pleasing to me may not be pleasing for you. Colour, shape, texture, shading, angles, light absorptions and reflections and the design itself are received differently by you and me because our preferences and responses are inherently conceived in our uniquely produced patterns found in our uniquely designed DNA. I may react strongly to different hues of green, whereas you may find that colour repulsive. You may be attracted to a brighter amount of light, where I may be pulled in by the echoing gravity of shadedness. It all depends on our inherent tastes.

Consequently, we continue to strive for originality as well as semblance in all aspects of our lives because its not just a visual application. Far from it. There are no parameters to our using patterns with all of our senses. Sound too for example has a colour, shape and texture to it. The shading and light of a melody is revealed through the beat, tone, and notes. We seek it out with our touch too. Patterns enhance our feelings, stimulate our thinking and affect our actions all in how we perceive them. They can lure us in with their magical esthetics or push us away with their adversity. It all depends on how our senses respond. It all depends on what appeals to us.

Patterns is the topic for this week's thematic photography brought to you by my friend Carmi at Written Inc. For more designs, check out his site. you can click here, or reach him through the link on my sidebar anytime.