Nature- leaves linear structure

As I am looking into nature vs. manmade, I began exploring nature. Nature holds many elements that could be helpful to study such as design, fractures, linear structures, overgrowth/growth and the obvious floral patterns. I started by doing some small-scale drawings that capture the detail found in natural matters. I wanted to look at natural forms that hold pattern, shapes and are 3-d so I have been focusing on plants, leaves and flowers.  

I created these rough prints to demonstrate the linear design structure within the shape of a leaf. The linear structures within the leaf remind me of veins in a body and the shapes found on butterfly wings, all this is evidence of natural order.  

This sample was influenced by the linear structures found in leaves; I did simplify the structure, as I was not sure whether the paper would hold the shape properly. It consists of 4 individual leaves, cut and made using thick heavy cartridge paper to hold its construction. I am struggling with turning dimensional work into 3-dimensional pieces I find it difficult. If I had not bent and angled the leaves, they would have remained dimensional. I created these leaves to capture the linear structure of a leaf but as a collection, I do not think it does, individually it clearly portrays leaves but gathered the leaves become confusing and distorted. Am I being too literal?

 

I photographed these images on a white background as well as on the window at different times of the day. I wanted to capture light coming through the leaf structure.