background
I’ve spent 50 of my years living in Southern California – an exhilarating half-century in which I’ve spent a lot of time, man and boy, in the presence of watershapes of various forms and sizes. The experiences I’ve had have filled me with opinions about the nature of these bodies of water and their accoutrements, so
It’s a bit hard for me to believe it, but it’s now been fully 11 years since I attended my first Genesis 3 design school. One of the events I remember most clearly from that first session was (among many others) David Tisherman laying out a bunch of books and recommending that we should immediately obtain and read all of them. Always looking for a firm foothold, I asked him which one I should read first, and, without hesitation, he pointed to Janson's History of Art: The Western Tradition. I didn’t act on his advice right away, but I eventually acquired a copy and started reading – and it took me nearly
When I teach seminars on watershape design, I always emphasize the importance of having a list of questions to ask prospective clients during initial conversations. It's a point that always seems to ignite discussion - and it usually ends up with someone in the audience asking me to provide such a document for general use. I always refuse to do so, not because I consider my approach a trade secret, but rather because everyone's business and approach to clients is a little different and the questions I ask might not be exactly the questions everyone else would (or should) ask. The issue has come up frequently enough through the years, however, that I've finally assembled
When I teach seminars on watershape design, I always emphasize the importance of having a list of questions to ask prospective clients during initial conversations. It's a point that always seems to ignite discussion - and it usually ends up with someone in the audience asking me to provide such a document for general use. I always refuse to do so, not because I consider my approach a trade secret, but rather because everyone's business and approach to clients is a little different and the questions I ask might not be exactly the questions everyone else would (or should) ask. The issue has come up frequently enough through the years, however, that I've finally assembled
If I were to ask the average watershaper to name the most versatile element in any landscape, he or she would probably reply by talking about water or plants or some other equally prominent component. If you asked me the same question, however, I'd almost always say rocks. Some of you might be thinking I have a few too many of them rolling around loose in my head, but there's a good explanation for my response. First, rocks come in an infinite number of forms, shapes, compositions, colors, textures and sizes. Second, they can be used to sit on, walk on, retain hillsides or create small mounds. Third, they add dimension to designs and contribute in countless other ways to the
During the five years I've been writing this column for WaterShapes, I've been asked by a number of people how I manage to find the time to write this column, make presentations at trade shows, teach at Genesis 3 schools and conduct my own design/consulting business. I get the distinct impression that these questions have much less to do with curiosity about the power of time management than with questions about why I'd even bother to extend my focus beyond my primary business of