Radical Impressionist: A Mathematician Paints

Painting and meditating at Mrs. Bobb's Garden in Santa Fe. Between the famous Canyon Road and Alameda Street in Santa Fe is a 4 acre garden created by the 98 year old Mrs. Bobbs beginning in the 80's. With the help of assistants the garden is still flourishing. She and her garden are Santa Fe treasures. I joined the Santa Fe Pleinarians to paint in the garden today, Sep 4, 2018. As I walked around the garden with wonderment that such a place could exist, I studied many potential scenes to paint. My fellow peinarians began to set up and paint, some doing sketches first. I became intrigued however with a sculpture that defies the eyes and brain:  I decided to look up the history of Mrs Bobbs' Spiral and found this quote from npr.org (click  here  for full article): " Mrs. Bobbs was persuaded to dabble in the altogether unfamiliar. She now has a vibrant and colorful undulating sculpture created by Santa Fe artist   Hillary Riggs , in the shape of a   logarithmic sp

As I continue to pursue the underlying Mathematics in my painting I also am exploring making changes to my techniques. Not only will I consider the mathematical construction of my composition but also the juxtaposition of the abstract with the concrete.  This blog post will explain my use of a watercolor-like, abstract underpainting combined with the more concrete use of shapes with palette knife. Two years ago I observed the watercolor/pastel technique of Albert Handell and was intrigued. I finally tried this technique with oils alone, using Cobra's water-mixable oils.  At first I applied the paint thinly mixed with sufficient water. Then I began to paint primarily using a palette knife but also utilizing a brush for different effects, with thicker paint on top of the (dried) thin layer. These are my first two paintings based on this technique: both paintings were done with the assumption of the coloring of sunset during stormy skies. Sandias' Stages: The Sandias is bas

Introduction To prepare for a "plein air" workshop in the desert of California in Borrego Springs I have constructed color charts with the recommended palette of colors. I am a painter but I was a Mathematician.  How does this affect me? More on this in later posts. After I sit on this project for awhile, I will discuss on this blog how I look at painting and art from a Mathematician's point of view: geometries,  algebras, perspective, shapes, patterns, groups and their graphs, fractals and chaos in the landscape, golden spiral, dynamic symmetry, etcetera, all with an eye on understanding if a Mathematician's insight can add to the ability to paint. Or at least with an eye to understanding how mathematicss and painting are interwoven in MY life. These posts will include one on the mathematics of color charts! Color Charts and Karen Ready for the Workshop Palette  (all Utrecht unless otherwise indicated) Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue (hue, Ho