Sacred Geometry: A Primer

As promised, here's the list of books that make up my library on sacred geometry.

*Sacred Geometry: Deciphering the Code by Stephen Skinner
*The Golden Section: Nature's Greatest Secret by Scott Olsen
*Sacred Geometry by Miranda Lundy
*Sacred Geometry: Philosophy and Practice by Robert Lawlor
* Quadrivium: The Four Classical Liberal Arts of Number, Geometry, Music and Cosmology
*Islamic Design: A Genius for Geometry by Daud Sutton
* Ruler and Compass: Practical Geometric Constructions by Andrew Sutton
*The Power of Limits by Gyorgy Doczi
*The Elements of Dynamic Symmetry by Jay Hambridge
*Geometry of Design by Kimberly Elam (this isn't the version I have, I have the older version I guess.)

Those are my geometry books, I really enjoy the ones from the Little Wooden Books series, there are a lot more books in the series that I want to get. I like that they're divided into sort of small bites and have lots of good and helpful illustrations. They're probably one of the best places to start your geometry research.
Sacred Geometry:Deciphering the code is also a pretty good one to start with, it does seem to focus a lot more on number than I really care for, but it does make a pretty good introduction to the subject. I do feel that Mr Skinner, or his writing style, have a tendency towards pretentiousness but, over all it's pretty good. Geometry of Design was an interesting one to look through, though as I mentioned above, I believe I have the older version and I don't know how the two versions differ. It's been a while since I read either Sacred Geometry (Lawlor) or The Power of Limits, I got lost a bit and overwhelmed when reading both of them, I don't know if that was me and where I was at or them. I haven't made it all the way through The Elements of Dynamic Symmetry, Hambridge seems to be more about the numbers and that's daunting for me.

What I'm about

I recently finally bought two books on sacred geometry that I've wanted for years, I just started reading one of them (I started reading it years ago, then it went back to the library...) and found this quote that I really liked.

"At a more exalted level, geometry distinguishes between the domain of the sacred and the profane."

-Stephen Skinner, Sacred Geometry: Deciphering the Code

Be on the look out for a post on my library of sacred geometry books. Also maybe just a run down of my art books in general.

PS I don't know about anyone else, but once people start talking about numbers in regards to sacred geometry, I find myself quickly getting lost or wanting to skip. Sometimes I can figure out what it's all saying and feel proud of myself but that's not all that often. Anyway, back to reading.

Piece of the Week

I made this book yesterday and though it didn't turn out quite like I was hoping, I'm still excited about how it turned out. I loved the illustration on this flier and I've been waiting for a chance to use it.

100 Dresses coptic

flier and book cloth etc.

3x3in

2012

Piece of the Week...

So for the piece of the week, this is more of a pre piece of the week. I don't know what a lot of other artist's sketch books look like, but this is what one of my sketchbooks looks like.

 There's a lot of writing in my sketchbook, also there's generally a lot going on, I'll just use the space where I find it.  The writing at the top of the picture is from months and months ago The colored picture is from yesterday...

 I started doing this about a year ago where I do a little thumbnail of a piece to keep track of a series (this is the Genesis series), that way I can easily know how many pieces I have, if they've been finished, started, etc. if there's a title I write that down and maybe a note or two about what was behind the piece.

 I sometimes use colored pencil to either better capture the idea or experiment with possible colors.

Also like I said above, I go all over in my sketchbook and there's not really an up or down, I start from the front, the back, and use any page direction that's convenient.
Somehow I would guess that many people's sketchbooks look like, and not all of my sketchbooks look quite like this but there are a lot of similarities.

Piece of the Week

This piece is a bit different, have I mentioned that I also do book binding? I do, I found out about it in college, it was a class that filled up overnight and it kept being filled up before I could take it. I eventually got in and was able to take it twice and I loved it. I love books and being able to make my own is something I love.

This book is a Coptic binding, it's my favorite binding and it's about the oldest book binding there is I believe.

Information for the artist or would be artist.

I found some great articles and I want to put them where I can find them and also share them for any other artists out there.
 Ten Habits of Successful Artists
Ten Principles of Successful Artists
Career Self-Assessment and Making Goals
Making the Most of Professional Organizations
Portfolio Development
Setting Clear Goals
Ten Tips for Success in the Art World

My friend and former classmate is having a give away/contest on her blog for a beautiful book that she made. The idea behind this is to motivate people to do what they can to help with the disaster in Japan, by donating money or something to help these people out. The details are on her blog but you should check it out, a chance both to help other people out and a chance to win a beautiful book, she really makes beautiful books, much cooler than the ones I make.

A little something different today, book binding. I have always loved books and notebooks, etc. and so when I found out that they offered a class on book binding at BYU, I knew I should take it. I liked book binding so much that I took it a second time! I enjoy making books for myself and for others and it's amazing the possibilities that are out there with book binding. If you ever get the chance to take a book binding class, I suggest you take it!

Research and Reading

Right now I'm reading some art related books to educate myself on varrious things to make myself a better artist and to be able to incorperate ideas or concepts into my work.
I'm reading The Artist's Guide by Jackie Battenfield and I would recommend it to anyone starting out in the arts, it's both enjoyable to read and highly instructive.
I'm also reading Sacred Geometry by Robert Lawlor, I am very interested in sacred geometry and I'm still working to get a better understanding of it and to be able to utilize it more in my work.
Point and Line to Plane by Wassily Kandinsky, this was recommended to me by one of my professors and it's very interesting but quite frankly I'm having a a hard time following it.
Last but not least is Lenoardo da Vinci's Notebooks, it's been very interesting reading this and seeing more of Leonardo's perspective on the world. The subjects covered vary from studies of water to parables to praportions.

Sacred Geometry

In high school geometry was one of my least favorite subjects, I had a hard time with it and I had a weird teacher; I was surprised, when in college I came to enjoy something called sacred geometry. Geometry had been my least favorite math subject, I learned about sacred geometry in my art classes. Sacred geometry is unlike regular geometry in that regular geometry deals with numbers where sacred geometry works visually. In the golden age of Greece it is believed that sacred geometry was practiced and responsible for the acclaimed beauty. As the renaissance began the knowledge of ancient Greece and Rome was recovered and painters such as Albrecht Durer and Leonardo da Vinci learned sacred geometry from Fra Luca Pacioli.
Today sacred geometry is not a widely known area of study, and since hearing about it I've been trying to learn more about it, to understand it better and to include it in my art work. For anyone interested in learning more about sacred geometry I recommend Sacred Geometry by Miranda Lundy and other Little Wooden Books.

Untitled
Watercolor
9X9in.
2009
Series: Rose Windows