So as a part of my IP project I'm doing several different kinds of illustrations–some will display plant anatomy in a very formal and strictly scientific fashion while others with play with the forms and colors of the plants in an extremely ornamental way. The design I came up with below was supposed to represent a very Art Nouveaux ideal of art and beauty–as something that is natural and coming from nature–the style is often geometric, symmetrical, and whimsical.
First the drawing
Then some fancy photo-editing
The name practical Botany actually is the name of a course I'm taking right now (BIO 102) and I thought it was funny and interesting name for a class, because it might imply that there is a Useless Botany course (which I'm sure would simply be a time-slot for college students to get tested on high school algebra in silence, in a classroom full of ferns and living rock plants that you don't even notice, haaaa). BUT what's interesting is that practical botany kind of brings out the dichotomy that exists with how one can view plants and nature in their life–as a tool or a provider of food and perhaps income and then oppositely as something of beauty and enjoyment through touching and viewing. Of course one can feel both, in fact I feel sure that if you identify with with former the latter will always come with it, but I also feel that many people in my generation and perhaps in my society experience and think about plants/nature in a mainly aesthetic way.
It's a pretty great class though, we are growing OH so many plants (11 so far!) and are making wine and a chamomile salve... mm salveeyyy.
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