"Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over."

I believe that water is the only drink for a wise man. ~Henry David Thoreau

Filthy water cannot be washed. ~African Proverb

"Throughout the history of literature, the guy who poisons the well has been the worst of all villains..." -ANON

"Water is a very good servant, but it is a cruel master."
C.G.D. Roberts, "Adrift in America", 1891

"You could not step twice into the same rivers; for other waters are ever flowing on to you."
Heraclitus of Ephesus

"When you drink the water, remember the spring"
Chinese Proverb

"When the well is dry, we learn the worth of water"
Benjamin Franklin

"The stone in the water knows nothing of the hill which lies parched in the sun."
African Proverb

My thanks to Samuel Clemens for the title quote, thanks again Mr. Twain.

The above falls was built from Colorado fieldstone, the falls in the photo is about 18inches high, and running about 1700 gallons per hour regarding the rate of flow.

Color; Plan View Drawing

More on yesterdays Hardscape Plan
Now we can take a look at where that sandstone walkway goes to. The bridge leads directly to the fire pit area, in a very enclosed area.

Just above the fire pit is the mound with boulders and plantings. To the bottom side the pond surrounds the fire pit. I was trying to create this very intimate space for those who wanted to wander over to this area. While the paver area was more of the public type area.

The homeowner had specifically asked for two separate areas so the adults could gather in one and the kids in another.

Everything was designed with this thought in the back of my head, remember the view from the new kitchen addition . . . remember the view from the new kitchen addition. You can see the breaks in the house line where the windows were being placed . . . there are a lot of them, and we wanted something interesting happening wherever you looked out.

This was taken the 1st winter of the garden. I took this photo with a zoom lens while standing inside the kitchen. Where the window is rounded off they have a breakfast nook set up there.

I think it's a pretty nice look while your sipping on you morning cup of joe, and having a bowl of Cheerios. What do you think?

The falls originate in bio-falls boxes, and I always used 45mil, EPDM liner, covered in stone-usually 3-5 different sizes. I believe this helps with creating a more naturalistic waterfeature. One other thing about siting waterfeatures . . . I like having some sort of evergreen back drop for my falls. I think a good solid screening backdrop helps with selling the realism of the waterfeature.

I am also a sucker for low weeping plants around streams. Plants the branch out over the water, or crawl down into the waters edge. It's more of the blending between land and water to create a; sort of, seamless edge.

An Appreciation of Stone 11

Waterfall in Winter

This waterfall shot was taken right after completion and the weather had just turned
 real cold, real cold. The falling water, the snow and ice. Gotta love it. 

The Design Process, another example

The Before Shot

This before image shows the area of focus for the conceptuals. The client is looking for some sort of dramatic water feature into the sub-division and golf course. In order to make that happen we are going to have to build something between 8 and 12 foot high. Then in order to sell the illusion of the falls we will need to add a dynamic and beleivable backdrop. Piece of Cake ?!?

The Warm-up sketch, Initial thoughts, or Day-dreaming.

This is an example of a warm up drawing for me. Before doing any overlays. Since I was doing stone and water I better warm up with . . . stone and water. Plus start gearing my thought towards a strong backdrop.

The Concept sketch on a copy of photo (direct).

Normally I lay down some tracing paper and start looking at possibilities, but I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do in this area and started drawing away. The key here is to try and make the ratios look right, and to not mess up proportions of what I am after.

Especially the relationship of the falls and the lagoon, or pond. Remember the goal here is to wet the appetite of the client by showing them the potential of what there site has to offer based on 3 things.

1. Their request for what they need, and or want.
   
2. The site itself, what will it allow or not allow-what it is capable of.
3. The Designers talents, skill level, knowledge.

The Color Rendering

This color rendering is good enough to show to the client to give them an idea of how things will lay out. The black and white will also be part of the discussion. This is fine for the 2nd meeting when all these possibilites are discussed in a more informal way.

If there is to be a 3rd meeting with some other higher-ups the drawings will all be in color and more refined. There will also be a plan view drawing showing how this relates to the actual entry drive. Speaking of that drive-more on that tomorrow.

The Total Waterfeature

This is a shot that shows the upper falls the upper pond and the series of falls that I talked about yesterday and the day before.

Are there things I would do different if I built it now??? You bet. As I see it if you are not constantly evaluating and critiquing your work-then you will never get better. No matter how happy the client is.

More on "The Falls'

This is a continuation of yesterdays post. This set of little falls is a little further along the waterfeatures path.

The one thing I would like to point out here is notice how the 1st falls, falls directly into a pool of water and the second falls lands directly onto a splash stone. These two distinctly different sounds play off of each other a create a water harmony for the listener. Its what I like to call an indiscernable rhythm that always has interest for the observer.

This view is from the bottom of the stream. The stream falls off into a 110 gallon tub that is buried from view. The pump in the container sends the water up above the falls that was posted yesterday.

A few tidbits: The stone is a West Virginia toprock that has a lot of interesting color. You might also notice the mulch is pine straw which means I installed this job in the South, South Carolina to be exact.

It is almost 100% in the shade, which means almost zero algae problems, it also means very few option on blooming aquatic plants-but it is supposed to be a woodland stream so I think it worked out okay.

The Falls

Can you build it?

More on the Waterfall

 
This is a view looking back down at the angle from where I shot Saturday's post shot, and talked about this project. I wasn't kidding this is a difficult site to work in/with.
 
Back; almost, to the original photo. You can see there are some windows on the right for the interior portion of the spa. The outdoor area is a therapy type deal where folks are supposed to be submerged up to their neck.

Looking at where they want this waterfall and how they want it, I am for sure up to my neck.

I was out in the field all day going over projects or looking at projects. Lots to design and re-design this week and we will be talking about all of it right here.

Including an update on the terrace and steps I had been showing here last week. Let me say it didn't/isn't/hasn't went the way I thought it would go . . . . . . so far. Especially when it comes to step placement. 

Waterfall

Yippee !!!! Look what I get to design and work on . . . after the fact. The spa is poured, the walls are up, and the deck has been installed. Now they want the waterfall(to look natural) to go in against this wall; look dramatic, look natural, and work perfectly. Uh, did I mention it was to look natural?

Man, do I ever love my job!!!

p.s. Did I mention the the decking(stamped concrete)had been installed.

Bad start to this Waterfeature

This looks like to much rock already-I'll let everyone know how it turns out.