Name: 'Magnitism'

Medium: Water Colour Paint & Indian Ink on Archival Paper

Image Size: 58cm diameter

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About the painting

Water colour painting of a closed circular helix.

 

I am fascinated with the artistry in science and nature, especially when you uncover beautiful simplicity. 

 

During the process I was thinking about the conical shape of the nets that can be used to catch thousands of little Inanga fish. Imagine a tornado, this is a conical helix. I thought about water creating a helical movement within the net and the fish being carried along it and tried to portray this in my imagery.

 

This lead on to exploring a closed circular helix. I manipulated the colour, the shading and also the positioning of the small fish to swim in opposing directions to create a 3 dimensional effect.

 

‘Magnitism’ is a closed circular helix, we see helices in DNA. This series has really allowed me to shine a spotlight on the simple beauty of geometric shapes and mathematical patterns that are in our natural environment. It’s fun to appreciate this beauty, but what I think is more important is our quest to use scientific methods to grow the knowledge we can glean from nature and acting on what we learn.

 

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