Butterfly Blooms

Butterfly Blooms was designed using fractals. How did I come up with this idea? I was a public librarian and during the school year our local kindergarten children visited the library every week. I would read them a story before they checked out their books. One day I read them a book about shapes.

We read about circles, squares and normal shapes all us find in our everyday lives. On the last page of the story, I read to them about fractals. What are fractals? It is a repeated shape but the shape doesn’t change. Like cauliflower and broccoli. Both are one big shape but as they are taken apart, the pieces  stay the same shape. That is food for thought. I knew the moment I read this I wanted to use fractals in my photography but how.

Butterfly Blooms is made from a tulip I photographed and created fractals using the tulip to shape my butterfly. I was trying to make something else but when I was done it looked like a butterfly wing. It said to me, "I want to be a butterfly."  I entered Butterfly Blooms in my first professional art show and won first place.

Debbie L. Lind