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The Principles and Elements of great design in
floral art and flower arranging is finally now available in an exclusive CD, " Principles and Elements in Floral Design" with Ngaire Clarke. Try a lesson on each element and principle with a floral project to try, read more here. The feature illustrated here is proportion
 Proportion
"The relation of one portion to another or one area to the whole, and the quantity of plant material in relation to container and accessories." from 'Flair' published by FASNZ. Therefore proportion is all about how much you use of anything in comparison with other parts of a design, be it other plant material, other forms, other colours , other spaces, the container or accessories. The three contrasts I use of light and dark, rough and smooth, shiny and dull also needed to be considered in proportion and it has been suggested that 1/3 to 2/3 is a good ratio. Why? Equal amounts may seem to be boring, and not interesting enough for the viwer to pause for long, while too much of any one thing may make it dominate more than you wish it too. | a | 
The chapel in Stratford upon Avon, in England was decorated in its Christmas best when we visited, December 2001. The Floral Artists responsible for the wonderful, fresh, floral arrangements had proportion firmly in their minds!
Notice in the background how they used trailing red ribbons to make the proportion of the tall stands to the plant material on the top, more agreeable. |   The 1:3 ratio seen at Ellerslie Flower Show 2001 in a floral wall hanging triptic. The 3 rectangles, with 3 succulents with the approxiamate1/3: 2/3 proportions of the shiny round forms to the duller filler plant material.
Imagine how different this design would be with equal amounts of the two plant materials, or just one round form in each rectangle. | 
Still at Ellerslie, and still using the traditional proportion formula, these three paintpots with succulents planted in them are a modern example. The pots are 2/3 of the height of the design, the succulents are 1/3. In traditional flower arranging this proportion is usually reversed with the container only taking up 1/3 of the design.
The paint dribbles also fit into the formula with 1/3 of the surface you can see being dribbled and the other 2/3 the shiny silver pot.
|  A French florist in Nancy also reverses uses the traditional 1/3 to 2/3 rule of container to plant material.The hot orange tulips covered in gold angel hair help to draw your eye upwards and minimise the container's presence on the first glance. | 
In Art there is another proportion called the Golden Section or Mean, .618 actually.This was considered the perfect proportion and was called the Divine Proportion.It was used in the great paintings of the Renaissance, and also in Greek art and Architecture.Often found in nature in the shape of a leaf or the spiral of a shell, the Golden Mean was thought to add harmonious composition to buildings and other structures.Its basis was the proportion of the human body as defined by Vitruvius, a Roman architect.Experiments suggest that human perception exhibits an innate preference for proportions that accord with the Golden Section. | 
Golden Section This is the easy to read book explaining the Golden section and how it has been used in the past.
Great to try out the ideas in it, in your floral design if you want proportions that instinctively please your audience.
Read more here... |
 The Golden Section
Same name, different book, this one also investigates the ancient proportions but has also a section on fractals, the recent discovery on the ratios within nature. A great book if you want to just know more about why!
Read more here... | |
