Radical Impressionist: A Mathematician Paints

 Turbulence Series: Aspens Introduction I intend to do several 8x10 paintings of this photo, taken up in the Aspens near the Santa Fe Ski Area in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains (circa 2013). References: Aspen Turbulence #1. Prismatic Full Palette with Brush only Aspen Turbulence #1 (using full prism of colors with brush only) First attempt at painting the aspen scene using the full palette of colors and brush only. I considered this a failure so I wanted to analyze how I could improve it.  For this reason I created this post.  This painting had too much green in it so I wiped out the lower left green area. zit had a large tress (the ghost is still visible) so that the other problem with this painting was the 'goal-posting' considered a no-no. I also reaslized that I didn't need to use the full range of colors so for the later attempt I will use a limited palette. Note that some FB friends preferred this painting. Full palette: cadmium lemon, cad yellow medium, cad yellow de

Introduction Many artists have studied and learned 1-point perspective early on. I've assumed that all artists understand how to use its rules. But do they (we) care? Isn't it so obvious that it's actually ingrained in us while we paint? I am choosing to assume that it's not obvious. But even more important, does it matter? Or perhaps, even more importantly, is there a difference between knowing the simple rule and understanding the theory behind it? Would it help the artist to know for example that perspective was considered an important or revolutionary notion historically? Or would knowing the underlying mathematics provide the artist with a deeper, understanding? I probably dabbled with perspective in grammar school and high-school. I don't really remember. I am planning to put together a lesson plan for my 10-12 year old grandchildren while they do their on-line learning from home during the pandemic. And they can have fun with it. But my first memor

Introduction I have written down some thoughts about my struggles in a male-dominated part of the world. I think these thoughts would be of interest to young women just starting out. Women have made great strides since my days but some of my stories could still be worth writing down, reviewing and perhaps reading. This effort was prompted by a request to do a STEM interview with high school students. BUT think of this post as a draft for now. I wanted to capture steps in my life without worrying about how it reads. If I were to publicize this post I would want to make changes. But for now read it as a series of steps in my life that have brought me to my current position, one in which I am happy to be marrying two passions in my life: art and math. Early Careers The stories of my life careers include choosing between architecture and mathematics in my freshman year of high school. Aptitude scores indicated that a career as an architect would be a good one for me. But our

My first medium of choice was watercolor.  I loved how the different pigments reacted to the paper so I spent a few years experimenting with this, analyzing the pigment qualities and trying to find unique mixtures of the colors. I began to paint “en plein air” during this period, and using a spray bottle I was able to capture the scene in front of me without the paint drying too fast. The moisture of  Woodstock NY didn’t require this but certainly once I reached the dry New Mexico weather, I found the spray bottle useful. I tried to paint brighter and brighter works and purchased many instruction books on how to obtain deepened color using watercolors. But I began to realize that only with oils could I attain the depth of color that was my goal. Over the years though I still yearned for the feel of watercolor and how as it drops onto the paper unique effects could be obtained. At first with watercolor I was self taught, buying many books. One of my initial inspirations came from Je