Radical Impressionist: A Mathematician Paints

It's time to resume working on an article I've promised myself for years. Perhaps it could become a book. I've been too busy painting though. But also, the one gallery representing me (Marigold Gallery on Canyon Road in Santa Fe) closed in January so I've been thinking about next steps.  But the main reason I am thinking about this now is that I see some excitement generated in the community to revisit the design techniques that I see as mathematical, involving dynamic symmetry concepts. I could even touch on the deeper mathematics behind the techniques in an appendix. This will fulfill my need to marry my two passions: painting and mathematics. In any case, two years ago I took a zoom workshop with Michele Byrne (now of Santa Fe) well-known artist specializing in using a palette knife, my favorite painting tool. An added benefit of the workshop was to see how she employs dynamic symmetry in her work: https://www.oilpaintersofamerica.com/2022/03/dynamic-symmetry-and-ho...

(Originally published Jan, 2019)  Everyone refers to Betty Edwards' book,  Drawing on the Right side of the Brain .  And I have to admit that it was an important book for me when I began to draw and paint seriously, in fact, so much so that it contributed to my efforts NOT to use the left side of my brain. But I was a Mathematician first and throughout my painting career I kept being bombarded with left-side ideas or logic. I couldn't escape it even if I tried. But I kept pursuing my need Not to allow logic to affect my painting. Finally this year I came to grips with the fact that I am driven by logic; I am an analyst first. And in fact I realized that for me, it's important to accept the logical part in order to grow as a painter.  So I determined that I would not discourage any left-brain ideas popping up while I paint.  And I would marry both sides of my brain perhaps to establish my brand as a painter-mathematician (or mathematician-painter). We all know th...

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 ...