09 Nov PAINTING STORY – Sweet Leaf, a Sacred Geometry Painting
This is a sacred geometry painting that was commissioned by employees and friends of Doug Francis, the CEO of Weedmaps, for his fortieth birthday.
It was very moving for me to create this artwork for him, as it is evident that he is deeply loved by the people who work for him. While painting it, I couldn’t help but wonder, what kind of person do you have to be that would inspire this level of devotion from your team.
When I get a commission for a sacred geometry piece, it’s really important that I understand what the collector wants. In this case, they wanted a specific teal green color, sacred geometry and a very subtle leaf incorporated into it.
It was important to me to get it as close to what they wanted as I possibly could. It can be difficult to follow specifications exactly, with this type of commission, because sometimes the painting will do what it wants.
I love how this painting turned out. It took a few months from beginning to end, and when it was finished, I was incredibly happy with it.
Below is my description of the painting, the meaning and the process:
Like all plants, the cannabis leaf is a beautiful representation of the intelligence of the Universe.
The seed of the cannabis plant, before it is even put into the dirt, holds within it a blueprint of its magnificent potential.
Water provides the seed with a trigger and the building blocks that enables the seed to grow. The seed grows leaves so that it can collect the light from the sun.
The geometry of life is already there, and the water and the light conspire to allow it to fulfill its greatest potential.
This painting was designed to demonstrate the geometry of the leaf and to celebrate the beauty of how purely intelligent it is.
The measurements of the leaves very closely follow the Golden Number 1.618 and the Fibonacci Sequence. The leaves expand as if reaching for the light.
It makes you wonder; how does it know what to do? 
When Shamans say “the plants talk to us,” they are describing a vibrational message they pick up from the plants that will assist in healing. It’s possible that the information being read is encoded in the shape and the fragrance of the leaf.
This is a glorious thing that nature provides, giving us medicine and nutrients to enable us to also fulfill our own potential.
GEOMETRY AND THE PROCESS OF PAINTING SWEET LEAF:
Sweet Leaf is painted on a canvas sized 48” x 60”, using a proprietary mixed media process that I have developed.
The artwork contains an underpainting of more than one hundred layers of paint, meticulously added over a period of months.
I then laid 
down the flower of life pattern that served as a map representing the field in which everything is contained.
The next step was to add the geometry with the simplest formula, which is radiating circles of 1.618, the Golden Ratio of Phi.
The Golden Ratio is found in the design and beauty of nature, everywhere.
Each circle is 1.618 larger than the circle it surrounds. What I found, happily, was that the cannabis leaf lays nearly perfect on the proportions of the Golden Number with each blade of the leaf matching the circles.
Then I took the arcs of those circles and made intersecting points, finding that it was the basic blue print for the leaf itself, creating a beautiful geometry.
Next, I painted in a ghost image of the actual leaf that floats within the geometry.
All together it demonstrates the perfection of nature. It’s a beautiful pattern, which is the fundamental building block of life as well as the building block of design.
We have to wonder, why does this look appealing to us? The geometry, the leaf, the plant? Our minds find it beautiful because of these ratios and design elements that are taken from nature.
We recognize it, sub-consciously, as divine.
ABOUT THE GOLDEN RATIO AND THE FIBONACCI SEQUENCE: 
In nature, all living things contain the 1.618 Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci Sequence.
The Golden Ratio is an average of the growth rate of all living things. The Fibonacci Sequence is a ratio describing the same effect.
Everything is spiraling out of nothing. It’s as though light is growing. It is taking the light and the water and constructing something out of space, and builds at that rate, in balance.
For example, in your hand, each one of your bones is 1.618 smaller or larger than the others. If you fold your fingers, you’ll see that they curl in a spiral, much like the Fibonacci Sequence.
Everything in nature is perfectly proportioned. In art, when you use these formulas, it is more beautiful to us because we subconsciously recognize the proportion that we know to be in all of nature.
Nature is attempting to grow as efficiently as possible and just so happens that nature has figured it out.
We are connected to all life forms and the Universe is just one big potential that we all are striving to access.
We are a part of a connected Universe.
Please leave a comment below if you enjoyed this painting story.
Thanks- Life is good – Drew
PS: Here’s a Youtube Video that I made explaining the process and the painting.