Flynn Matthews 
Rafael Araujo’s hand-drawn Golden Ratio illustrations are a wonderful fusion of art with science. For the past 40 years, the Venezuelan architect and illustrator have been improving his marvelous drawings that are all connected by this common theme. Armed with nothing but a pencil, compass, ruler, and protractor he creates illustrations that depict the mathematical brilliance of the natural world and has recently begun to compile versions of his best work into an adult coloring book that seeks to reconnect people with nature.
Araujo’s illustrations revolve around intelligent patterns of growth that are ruled by the Golden Ratio. This unique number, commonly annotated with the Greek letter Phi (ϕ), is equal to 1.618 and can be seen in all sorts of natural spirals, sequences, and proportions. “Phyllotaxis” is the name given to the tendency of organic things to grow in spiral patterns and this number pattern reoccurs so often in nature that some researchers have deemed it a universal law for the perfection of structures, forms, and proportions. From seashells, leaves, crystals, and even butterfly wings, Phi can be traced throughout our environment, time and time again.
