Pattern and Texture

Donna from Garden Walk, Garden Talk is again hosting her fortnightly “Word for Wednesday” meme – this time the word is Texture. Well actually, its two words this week, Pattern and Texture. I don’t often take part in this meme because the quality of the photography and writing of the participants is intimidating, but this week the theme intrigued me. Donna’s post was incredibly informative and I learnt a lot (Donna is a landscape designer). After reading and absorbing her design advice, I trawled through my photo archives to see what photos depicting Pattern and Texture – as it applies to my garden – I could find. I was quite surprised to discover that I had about thirty reasonable looking photos that spoke “texture” or “pattern” to me and once I’d culled the collection down further, I was left with twenty photographs that I’d like to share.

What I found to be very valuable was Donna’s suggestion of desaturating an image … Donna suggests: “A designer trick is to desaturate an image to better see pattern and texture. It is a good tool to see why a grouping works or does not. The lights, darks and small detail are more evident, and that is an important aspect in textural differentiation“. I have been working on foliage combinations in my garden of late. Some work better than others, as I’ve now seen.  I took all the photos I showed in this post of yesterday and “desaturated” them and what surprised me was how well most of the groupings seem to work. (Interesting to me, the combination I like the most, is the least appealing using this method – too many similar plant types, i.e. spiky grass-like plants grouped together). We live and learn!

I’m showing two repeats from yesterdays photos because I believe they fit the theme of “Pattern & Texture”, and I’ve taken Donna’s suggestion of desaturating the images to show why these combinations may work. (These were in fact my least favourite – but now I look at them this way I think they do work). You can click to enlarge the photos to see the full effect.

Do they work?

[one_half]Pattern on leaves, Texture of grass[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Now the leaves sparkle, grass contrasts[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Pattern on grass, texture of bark[/one_half]

[one_half_last]I think it works well for contrast[/one_half_last]

Below are the photos I chose from my archives that speak to me of “Pattern and Texture”. The first two I’ve shown as  large photos because they speak loudest to me …

Pattern:

You can’t dispute that Mother Nature is an artist of the highest order when you examine a flower as beautiful as this. Look at the intricate, beautiful patterns she has woven into the petals of the Iris, like a painting on silk …

Texture:

And for texture you can’t beat the contrasting softness of the fur on the Persian cat and the rough texture of the weathered bench …

Other random images depicting Texture and/or Pattern:

[one_half]Texture of the tree trunk (I see pattern too)[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Texture of the delicate Rose petals[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Texture of and pattern in the nest[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Texture of the grass and leaves[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Paper thin petals of the Anemone[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Texture of stones, pattern in the layout[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Texture of bark contasts with petals of the Lily[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Texture of grasses is appealing to many[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Dry, brittle leaves and lush green ones[/one_half]

[one_half_last]More paper thin petals …[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Hard texture of cement against foliage[/one_half]

[one_half_last]… I see pattern in the repetition of the blooms[/one_half_last]

Happy Gardening (and photographing)
xxx