Abstraction

By using abstract form rather than trying to recreate nature, which will ultimately fall short, the generated image can allow the viewer to marvel at the scale, movement and complexity, assigning their own meaning to form. Having experimented with recreating a waterfall using particle systems, the effect is not satisfactory, in that it pales in comparison to the awesome power of the natural spectacle. Digital form, no matter how accurate, can never replace nature, in the same way Romantic painters knew that the goal was impossible. Abstraction can take the invisible elements which give a seen power; turbulence, scale, gravity, depth, complexity, and give them a visual representation that can hold its own form of sublimity, rather than competing with the natural.
The next two videos are experiments with waterfalls. The first is a literal copy, with the second using an unusual colour palate to remove the literal copying of a natural occurrence and move the interpretation to something more ethereal.
The third video is a slow moving abstract pattern, designed to entrance through its complexity and morphing function.