Creative How to draw a spiral - Golden Ratio By ML Barber, London volunteer If you’re looking for a fun and easy activity to pass the time while you enjoy the sunshine, why not learn how to draw a spiral? Whether it’s drawing, painting, knitting or colouring, getting creative and unleashing your inner artist is a great form of self-care to help manage day-to-day stresses.
In Renaissance art, the golden ratio was widely used, because it was pleasing to the eye. This is no coincidence. Examples include: da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, The Last Supper, Mona Lisa. Other artists include Botticelli and Michelangelo. The golden ratio appears naturally in the world of nature and science, the spiral in a sunflower, the spiral in a galaxy, generally any spiral originates from the golden ratio. The Italian Mathematician, Fibonacci, developed a sequence when looking at the population growth of rabbits in an ideal situation. This started with 1,1 with any number in the sequence being obtained by adding the previous two. So, the sequence is 1,1,2,3,5,8,13 etc This sequence can also be used to find the golden ratio, by dividing one number in the sequence by the previous one. The further into the sequence you are, the closer the number gets to the golden ratio. Follow the process below to construct an approximate spiral, by applying the above sequence
12
1. Take a piece of squared paper and draw a one by one square. On the top, draw another one by one square. You now have a two by one rectangle.
2. Now against the left-hand longer side, draw a two by two square, you now have a three by two rectangle.
3. Now draw a three by three square against the bottom to obtain a five by three rectangle.
