A good landscaping can give a refreshing feeling, either deep and distant, or highlighting the individual. But no matter which kind, I believe the following points must be achieved:
1. Clear expression, a mountain is a mountain, a tree is a tree.
In a landscaping, it is not impossible to be creative, but it must not be too abrupt. Since it is a landscape imitating nature, it should lean towards nature as much as possible. For example, in the following classic Moss tree, with the tree as the main body, do not place a large stone behind it, and do not, like some friends, try to put everything in, like throwing in a small rubber duck.
2. Stable structure, reasonable white space, follow the golden ratio.
The golden ratio is well known, dividing the whole into two, the ratio of the larger part to the smaller part equals the ratio of the whole to the larger part, with a ratio of 1:0.618 or 1.618:1, meaning the long segment is 0.618 of the whole segment. In landscaping, it is not necessary to measure with a ruler, but the composition must adhere to this general ratio. It is actually very simple, using the bottom edge of the fish tank as the longest edge, and the highest point of the landscaping wood or stone framework as the top point, creating a triangle with a top angle slightly larger than a right angle, either skewed or straight. This way, the created landscape is stable and solid, especially for rock landscapes, which look more natural, giving a sense of “safety” and are easier to place.
ADA landscaping competition award-winning works
3. Grasp perspective, create depth of field.
I remember when I first got into this hobby, whether it was a planted tank, marine tank, or a Lake Tanganyika tank, seniors would advise not to buy ready-made tanks, the kind that looks like a screen, 1.2 meters long, 25 centimeters wide, and 1 meter high. Without discussing other flaws, from the perspective of depth of field, it is very difficult to create a landscape with depth in this type of tank; everything is visible at a glance, and any larger object creates a sense of oppression, which is very uncoordinated.
The tank in my wife’s office, 70 centimeters high and less than 30 centimeters wide, is a typical counterexample
Creating depth of field is not difficult; according to the principle of perspective, it can be achieved by making objects larger in the foreground and smaller in the background. Just pay a little attention, and you can transform a flat surface into a three-dimensional space. Using the earlier Moss tree as an example, the foreground is this large tree, with a clear main body, beside it a river simulated with cosmetic sand, gradually tightening from near to far, guiding the viewer’s gaze from near to far, creating a deep and distant artistic conception.
This is a landscape created using visual perspective, more exquisite than the previous one.
Additionally, there is a clever method: discard all large-leaved, long-stemmed aquatic plants, and use densely planted small plants like mini dwarf pearl and mini hairgrass as the only plants in the landscape, sticking a black background (PVC sticker, several meters for ten yuan, waterproof and opaque), and a few uniquely shaped and colored main and auxiliary stones can create a vast prairie landscape:
Landscaping is very easy, but selecting stones requires a little thought.
There are some details to pay attention to, such as ensuring that the direction of the patterns on the stones is consistent, especially for green dragon stone and tortoise pattern stone; driftwood and rhododendron roots need to be trimmed to remove artificial marks from cutting and burning, etc. Just pay a little attention.
The above text is just a preliminary introduction. The beauty of nature cannot be summarized in a few words. After mastering the techniques and improving aesthetic levels, one can study the symmetry, repetition, echo, guidance, etc. of landscapes, but that requires everyone to leave the concrete jungle, go to the mountains and waters, and comprehend it themselves.
Author: Taiyue Juzheng
=The End=
Reprinted from: “Dragon Peak Aquatic Plants”
