By Contrast

摘要

Practice makes perfect when it comes to developing the observational skills you need to support your design acumen. As I discussed last month, honing these abilities enables a designer to see individual and collective shapes within a garden setting in ways that can enhance the overall appearance of plant/hardscape combinations and turn them into cohesive and more compelling visual compositions. Among all of those artistic abilities is one specific skill that has served me best and will be my subject in this column: That is, the ability to determine the level of contrast my clients want to see in their garden spaces. As an artist, I've always been inspired by the areas in paintings that display the greatest contrast. To my eye, these areas offer the greatest sense of depth and provoke the most interest in the composition, transforming two-dimensional canvases into three-dimensional works of art. That's just the sort of magic I want to bring to my designs.