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
These ocean-side tessellation topics are dear to my heart since we moved to the Island, a decade ago already. The weather is wonderful, winter and summer, those year-round hikes — local, beautiful, plentiful, varied. Continue reading
I had a quick look through all of my #tessellations from the past years and came up with a list of 30 “Family-Friendly” topics. Most of these are from the animal kingdom. Safe topics for the kids. And many kids encounter the art of tessellations either through their art class or their math class in grade school. They relate to the art style quite well. Continue reading
A new App called “iO Crafter” on the iPad has just come out, from Jürgen Richter-Gebert. Using it to deform into spirals is where my interest lies. As well, it has other functions to deform your images: build a platonic solid; build a kaleidocycle; view a kaleidoscope; hyperbolic kaleidoscope; and conformal maps. Continue reading
For the longest time, I resisted the need to add more colour, different colours, to my tessellations. I wrote before about this need, Recolouring a tessellation. Here are a few samples of my newly transformed prints. And some notes about my findings on the topic of colour in tessellations. Continue reading
I’ve resisted for a long time to recolour my #tessellation drawings. They are after all, supposed to be identical tiles by their true definition. In my opinion, it is good to have a bit of a challenge in deciphering a tessellation. Continue reading
Since M.C. Escher started popularizing “nested shape” tessellations, many artist have dabbled in the field. Some show a passing interest, yet still create with a very deep understanding of the rules of symmetry. Others can’t get enough and create constantly in this medium. Still other artists push the boundaries and explore off-spurs, into fractals, circle limits, non-repeating planes, animation, metamorphosis, pentagonal rules, morphing shapes, platonic solid tessellations, architecture, consumer products… Continue reading
If you are fortunate enough to be in Madrid this spring, do go and visit the M.C.Escher exhibition. The venue, Gaviria Palace, I have read and seen, is absolutely amazing.
Three of my prints are being shown at the Stadt Galerie in Brixen, Italy, till the end of the month. Gelbe Karte, Prissy Groovy and Cool, and Snowflakes. Andrew Crompton, David Hop, Hans Kuiper, Francine Champagne, Alain Nicolas, Fathauer Robert, Sam Brade are the artists representing the “Beyond” part of the show. All tessellations are part of the collection of Federico Giudiceandrea.
This tessellation is built using the Pgg symmetry group. A grid of two different perpendicular glide lines with two different two-way (180*) rotation points in the middle of each rectangle. Sounds like a lot to take into account, when planning the drawing, but it’s not that difficult. Continue reading
I’ve chosen a pattern from an Islamic geometric design as inspiration to get started for this tessellation. Looking at the photo, we can see four mirrors intersecting at ninety degrees to form a box. In the centre, a four way rotation point. Continue reading
My first ever tessellation, redrawn from scratch, to show the series of steps required to achieve a successfully nested shape.
The original image was a pencil sketch from years ago. Before Windows 3.1 and way before the iPad. And I could not afford an Amiga computer, even less the first Mac. So cardboard, pencils, scissors and lots of graph paper it was. Continue reading
Constant compromise. Coming up with a tessellation is an excercise in seeing both sides of the coin. A long process of shifting the needs on both sides of the line and allowing the other side to use available space, without loosing sight of your own purpose, your own needs. Finding a crack somewhere, nudging a line, inserting a limb in a space between. Give and take. Just as in life. Elle philosophise. Continue reading
