Discovering Patterns I

After days of bitter cold and heavy grey cloud, Saturday was bright and sunny, blue sky again at last. Out for a walk: the sun was catching the top of the silver birch trees. In the stream below we found shards of old pottery washed up amongst the pebbles. The crazed surface of the glaze mirrors the branches against the sky.

photos: susan laughton/ian turnock 2010

Vancouver: Creating a Sense of Place

We love the graphic identity for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. It creates a really strong sense of place layering dynamic landscape forms, urban structures and quirky details. This approach to creating an identity rather than a just a logo was one that Ian had taken when designing the new look for Congleton last year. The digital composition for Vancouver was based on hand painted artwork by designer Ben Hulse. With the resurgence of decorative hand drawn fonts, this also got us thinking about the whole traditional/digital drawing thing that is part of the way we work on secondnature and is a more artistic approach we'd like to experiment with on graphics projects as well.

Structure and Shadow

A dried Holly leaf we found in the garden. Only the basic structure remains: strong yet delicate.  A strange spiky shadow emerges...
photo: ian turnock 2009

Organic Architecture

The Tote Building, Mumbai.
We love this new building by Serie Architects for its amazing organic use of steelwork.  The roof design is based on the branch structure of surrounding Rain Trees. It is an elegant, contemporary take on Victorian cast iron structures.

Winter Wonderland

I know that a lot of people are glad the snow has gone, but I'm missing how beautiful it was! This panorama we took from the top of The Cloud (the hill that overlooks Congleton) shows a frozen landscape below an intense blue sky, the snow brings drama and simplicity. When out walking we are always looking for inspiration for paintings and sculpture, from distant horizons to the smallest detail.

                                                     

Ice crystals blown by the wind cling to dried reeds creating delicate ice flowers.

Low winter sunlight backlights frosted tree branches.















Welcome to our new art and design blog! Our online sketchbook where we can share things that catch our eye or influence our work  - a tiny shard of pottery discovered in a freshly ploughed field, the silhouette of branches against the sky, favourite artists, makers and galleries, exciting new architecture and design...
photos: susan laughton 2010