Jun 24, 2009

Art Insight TV.com


My Art Appreciation Video Blog

Please check out ArtInsightTV.com hosted by Aladine Vargas.

I started Art Insight TV because I've grown increasingly annoyed at the lack of intelligent conversation, education and production of fine art. I wanted a place to intellectually stimulate and encourage artists. Artists that have something to say and have worked hard at developing theirs skills in order to finesse the science of Art -- to communicate their ideas.

I also created Art Insight TV because I hate when the public feels they're stupid or uninformed or feel that they're not sophisticated enough to appreciate and discern good Art. So I want to help give the public some insight into what makes artwork work. All with the hope that the art market and the appreciating public together will change the how and why Art is cared about and consumed.

May 6, 2008

Draw a Portrait using the Fibonacci Series

In composing this portrait the Fibonacci number series was used. The Fibonacci series is 1,2,3,5,8,13,21 ...etc. Notice how 21 is 13 and 8 added together and 13 is 8 and 5 added together and so on. Before drawing you can take the width of the eye and use it as your basic measurement is which you will measure everything by. So for example the nose is two eye widths tall by 1 eye width wide or the distance from the right side to the left side of the nostril is 1/3 of an eye width and so on. Notice how the face, not the head, just the face which is ruffly the center of the forehead to the middle of the chin and from eye to eye is 5 eyes widths tall and 3 eyes widths wide. The 3 x 5 notional space is constructed with a Fibonacci ratio. Now the next step is placing the face in the head.

To keep the Fibonacci pattern extend the height of the grid 3 more eye widths and the width of the grid 2 more eye widths. Why 2 and 3? 2 and 3 are the units that correlate to 3 and 5 in the Fibonacci series. 1,2,3,5,8...etc. Now the grid for the notional space of the head is 5 eyes wide (face=3 eyes wide plus 2) and the height of the head is 8 eyes wide. Again this is the face's height which = 5 plus 3 more now = 8 eyes high. Later we will add 5 more eyes to the height of the head giving us 13 eyes wide and 3 to the 5 eyes of the head's width giving us 8 eyes across. In this new notional space of 8 x 13 you can design the top of the shirt and some background elements. After that the last notional area will be 13 x 21. This will be the field of the design or the canvas size.

To see other modern artists employing the Golden Section or Fibonacci schemes visit the Barnstone Studios website.

Reflection

The computer was working at a snails pace. The gears were churning hard. Watching the little hour glass spin gave me flash backs to movie scenes of helicopters flying over Vietnamese swamplands. So my head heavy with impatiences fell like a dieing giraffe. And I saw myself staring back at me. It was my reflection in the glass top on the desk. Cool i thought and 40 minutes later I had two sketches. One really sucked even though there were a few nice things going on in it. And the other was pretty cool; except for the one eye that looks like it was removed by force with a .... choose the blunt object of your choice and insert it here __________. The image is of the second sketch.

Oct 14, 2006

The Mathematics of Beauty

In 1180, an Italian mathematician named Leonardo Fibonacci discovered a strange sequence of numbers that have since attracted the attention of many perceptive observers:

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233 ... etc.

Each number is the sum of the previous two. It turns out that the ratio of any adjacent numbers approximates (1 + 5(�))/2 = 1.618. It would be several hundred years before these sequences would be broadly recognized in nature. In floral arrangements, the lily has 3 petals; the yellow violet, 5; delphinium, 8; mayweed, 13; aster, 21; pyrethrum, 34; helenium, 55; and the Michaelmas daisy, 89 - all Fibonacci numbers!

In the study of phyllotaxis, the spiral arrangement of leaves around a plant's stem, the leaves of the elm are arranged at 1/2 circumference; the beech and hazel, 1/3; the apricot and oak, 2/5; the pear and poplar, 3/8; the almond and pussy willow, 5/13; pines, 5/21 or 13/34; etc. In a review of 434 Angiospermae and 44 Gymnospermae, they all involve Fibonacci numbers! It turns out that this maximizes their exposure to sunlight and air without shading or crowding from other leaves.

In the study of seeds, the rows of bracts on pinecones are 8 and 13; pineapples, 8, 13, and 21; etc. The optimum divergence angle of 137.5o produces the best packing. That's why you see Fibonacci spirals in the seed heads (sunflowers, etc.) But what's really astonishing is that this peculiar sequence is far more pervasive than in just botany alone.

In art, it has long been recognized that there is a relationship known as "the Golden Rectangle". This has the peculiar property in that if you remove a square, you still retain the same "ideal" rectangle in the remainder. You find this relationship exploited in the Parthenon in Greece, the Great Pyramid in Egypt, the United Nations Building, credit cards, playing cards, postcards, light switch plates, writing pads, 3x5, 5x8 index cards, etc. In classic art, Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh, Vermeer, John Singer Sargent, Monet, Whistler, Renoir, Mary Cassatt, Giotto, Durer and others relied on this "golden rectangle" in their designs.

In music, the various scales are all Fibonacci numbers: most beautiful chords found in music are the major and minor sixths.

Musicians like Bach, Beethoven, Bartok, et al., would divide musical time into periods based on the same "golden" proportions to determine the beginnings and endings of themes, moods, texture, etc.

This same "Golden Rectangle" is the basis for the "Golden Spiral," which is the only spiral that does not alter its shape as it grows. This is often noticed in the chambered nautilus, but this "Golden Spiral" also appears in hurricanes, spiral seeds, ram's horns, sea-horse tails, growing fern leaves, the DNA molecule, waves breaking on the beach, tornados, galaxies, the tail of a comet around the sun, whirlpools, seed patterns of sunflowers, daisies, and dandelions; the ears of all mammals; and, the cochlea of the human ear.

What is also surprising is that even the orbits of the planets reveal a relationship suggesting the Fibonacci numbers. Penetrate into nature wherever he [the scientist] may, thought has been there before him. Clearly, the same architect that designed the plants, designed the animals, and the universe itself! His fingerprints seem to define beauty itself. God is, indeed, a mathematician.

This article is an snippet from www.khouse.org
Also see the Golden Section Blog

From my Studio Window

Other than the 8 flight walk, Myron has a sweet building for the studios. He leases two 5,000 square foot floors from an old textile warehouse. The studio's second floor, which is the fourth floor of the building, has many windows and several extremely large patio-like glass doors.

Being that high up you really get some nice views of Coplay's Pennsylvania landscape. Out of one window you see an old bridge. The angle the bridge takes in relationship to the rectangle of the window frame is quite impressive. It's calming to see how pássage dissolves the bridge behind the tree line as it directs the viewer's eye to a small town across the way.

Well from my studio window... I get a wonderful view of the Giant grocery store and its parking lot. And though that may seem facetious, it isn't. I really enjoy some of the remarkable views that are created out my window. Because the view is high above the horizon line the relationship of sky to land ratio is very different then if we were walking on the streets. So some times the sky makes some interesting gestures has it interacts with the earth below. Check out some of the pictures from my window.