Waste more time in nature

One of the things I love about BlueQ products are the little hidden messages. Some messages are quite irreverent, others surprise and inspire in the best possible way. The subject line of this post was one such message hidden in a bag that I was recently given. (It’s the owl bag…and BlueQ is a Berkshire Company that never fails to 1. entertain me and 2. be a model for corporate giving and good practices.)

The message came at the perfect time for me. I had recently returned from ten fabulous days in Spain. And while this was not a nature immersion trip, I did get reacquainted with the architecture of Antoni Gaudi–which is completely based in what he observed in nature. Talk about biomimicry, this guy was the king of it. Here’s what he wrote about La Sagrada Familia–a cathedral that he began to create in the late 1880s and work continues on it today:

Throughout all his works, elements of nature can be identified, he played with shadow, form, color and content. He experimented with roof lines that mimic how a leaf functions, utilizing a conoid–or a curved plane that funnels rain water and hold great weight. He hesitated in using this structure at first because no one else had ever considered it. He was completely revolutionary in how he let nature inspire him with her building blocks–adapting them to fit his functions. A true modernist–form follows function. This National Geographic page gives a brief overview. Check it out.

These are some of my favorite pics, the ones that remind me the most to waste more time in nature. I especially am got excited about the sunflower inspired chandelier, partially because my friend Tara wrote a post about sunflowers and I read it minutes before I left the hotel to go and draw and visit Casa Batllo.