Always had tan dogs. Retriever-Labrador-Samoyed mixes. Now this is new to me. One Husky-Black Lab mix and one German Shepherd. Took me a while to get used to drawing black things.

Always had tan dogs. Retriever-Labrador-Samoyed mixes. Now this is new to me. One Husky-Black Lab mix and one German Shepherd. Took me a while to get used to drawing black things.
There are so many nicknames I could repeat. So many comments. It did not take me long to modify my Darwin Award Nominee tessellation from a few years ago, to reflect this new #tradewar character. Continue reading
New word in my vocabulary. Zentangles. Have no idea when this word was invented, but I seem to have been doing something similar since my teen years. Not quite like the three images below as these have a repeating pattern. Continue reading
I was approached by a student a few months ago — he was writing his dissertation and needed examples to illustrate the seventeen symmetry groups: Continue reading
This Mountain Biker #tessellation drawing was done before Windows 3.1, before the Mac, before iPads! But after the dinosaurs. 1997. It was the inspiration to do a complete periodic drawing covering the plane, rather than a line group as shown below. Sometimes these drawings take time. Tessellation ideas are a dime a dozen — completed artwork is more rare. Continue reading
Lots of reasons to celebrate!
Hey, nice fish. Do you catch and release? Bit of exageration going on in the drawing as well as in reel life. All bent over and stretched out, imitating the size of his catch, same as stretching reality. Elvis hairdoo. All in good fun. Would be cool to have a long sleeve t-shirt with a measuring tape printed from hand to outstretched hand! Continue reading
All this talk about sharing space between characters in a tessellation has made me think of the word “symétruc”, which I coined a few years ago in a discussion with Jeff Weeks, American mathematician and KaleidoPaint app programmer. My original intention was for a word better than the French “pavages”, or “dallages”, which to me aludes to floor tiles, patio stones or asphalt pavement, rather than graphic art. Tessellation can be used in French, I’ve since found out. Continue reading
On the theme of ‘multiple sharing’ (as with ‘Mountain Biker’), are you familiar with the work of Raoul Raba in Zoo Mathématique? He has occasional examples. As a concept, there are not too many artists using this idea in their tessellation work. The premise of ‘economy’ is a pleasing one. Continue reading
This tessellation was done using the Pg symmetry system. Two parallel glide reflections with a few lines snaking from one to the other. In the sketch below, the thicker lines delineate the two characters, the guy and the dog. Not that many lines. The thinner lines add details to the shape. If you want to know an easy way to create this type of nested shape, have a look under the Techniques menu, and choose the symmetry group you would like to use. Continue reading
Clocks back one hour tonight. Spring forward — Fall Back. This symmetry design is built using a simple glide reflection all the way along the line. Resting dogs, using their buddy’s butt as a pillow. Continue reading
I will be showing some tessellation prints at the Board Game House in Nanaimo, for the next two months. Hanging of the artwork is October 28, 2017 – the show concludes at the end of December. Come see. Widen your perception of the fine line between art and math. Stretch your imagination with a bit of geometry, symmetry. Humor and funny characters too. Continue reading
The size of the audience for this type of art-form is microscopically small. When you start talking about your tessellation passion, someone inevitably says, “Ah ya you do that stuff”. From decades ago, “oh ya, I remember your drawings”. Other than family and friends putting up with your gushing obsession, you’re lucky to have a handful of patrons. Math teachers, grade school kids, and a few geometry nerds don’t constitute a large client base, lol. Continue reading
It has taken a while for me to let go of the expensive Adobe Photoshop, to complete my tessellations. Quite a bit of research and testing to figure out which iPad app was the best for my purposes. Pixelmator wins on all fronts. It does what no other single app accomplishes, Continue reading
The Nanaimo Arts Council (NAC) has partnered with The Board Game House, in exploiting the new café’s wall space. Because the table space is all covered with board games! A cool place to hang out, play games and munch on snacks. What more do you want. Continue reading