Pixel Painting 4 - Tom Davis Cellular Automata

This painting is the fourth large piece in my series of painting using cellular automata on a staggered grid.

Here you can see the four that I have finished so far. I hope you can some sense the range of designs that are possible using this technique.

In this series, I am trying to achieve a sense of rhythm, repetition, order and chaos. I like cellular automata because the designs are a balance between organic and geometric.

Each pixel has many layers of paint, making the colors rich and complex. The colors are were inspired by Pantone and Benjamin Moore Color Trends for 2015. Prominently featured are Marsala and Guilford Green. So, if your interior decoration is contemporary, this painting will match the couch. Thirty years from now, when we look back on the two-thousand and teens, these are the colors we will think of, you know, in the same way when you think of the 1970s, you think of avocado green, mustard, and dull orange.

I named this piece after mathematician Tom Davis, who was likely the first person to discover the rule set I used to design this piece (after I told him where to look). Tom's assistance on my work with cellular automata has been invaluable to me.

20" by 30", unframed. The sides are painted black so it doesn't need a frame.

Signed and dated. I sealed it with three coats of acrylic clear coat to make it a little shiny and protect it from scratches. Looks nice. Want it?  It's for sale here: Pixel Painting 4.

Pixel Painting 3 - Hanging Baskets Cellular Automata

This is an acrylic painting from my new series "Pixel Paintings." In this series, I explore the designs created with cellular automata. This painting is the third large piece in the series.

In this series, I am trying to achieve a sense of rhythm, repetition, order and chaos. I hope to create a balance between organic and geometric.

Each pixel has many layers of paint, making the colors rich and complex. The colors are mostly blue, purple and gray with a variety of pinks and burgundies. Here's a close up. 

20" by 30", unframed. Signed and dated. I sealed it with three coats of acrylic clear coat to make it a little shiny and protect it from scratches. The sides are painted black so it doesn't need a frame. This painting is SOLD.

Have a great weekend. Thanks for looking.

Acrylic Painting on Canvas -- Pixel Painting 2, Kintsugi

Here is my second "Pixel Painting," created with cellular automata.

This one is called, "Kintsugi," named after the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold in the cracks.

Each pixel has many layers of paint, making the colors rich and complex. The colors are mostly light blue, gray, black, and many shades of gold. The blacks vary from green to blue to purple to burgundy. There are lots of colors in there for depth and contrast.

 In the mean time, I bought a fifth canvas. So there will be at least five of these 20" by 30" cellular automata paintings before I finish the series.

 20" by 30", unframed. The sides are painted black so it doesn't need a frame..

Signed and dated. I sealed it with three coats of acrylic clear coat to make it a little shiny and protect it from scratches. Looks nice. Find it in my Etsy shop.

Acrylic Painting on Canvas -- Pixel Painting I, Water Lilies

This acrylic painting is from my new series "Pixel Paintings." In this series, I explore the designs created with cellular automata. This painting is the first large piece in the series, although I did several smaller pieces to get my technique. This series will have at least four large paintings, hopefully more.

In this series, I am trying to achieve a sense of rhythm, repetition, order and chaos. I am trying to create a balance between organic and geometric.

Each pixel has many layers of paint, making the colors rich and complex. The colors are mostly greens and blues, but there are lots of warm colors in there for depth and contrast. I had been working with beads on similar designs, but found that I wasn't getting the depth and variety of color I wanted.  So I switched to paint.  Also, I wanted to make it big enough for a wall, and size 11/0 seed beads just weren't big enough. 

20" by 30", unframed. The sides are painted dark gray so it doesn't need a frame.

Chaos & Order

Chaos & Order is done.

It now lives in Maryland.

The finished piece measures about 7" by 14" (18cm by 36cm).

It weighs 127.2 grams.

It contains over 50 different types of beads.

Chaos & Order Day 12

Remember the large wall piece of beading I started back January?  Well, it's done, but before I show you nice photos of the finished piece, I'm giving you a teaser.  This was Day 12.

Last time, I showed you a close-up, so today I'll give you the big picture. Here is my workspace.  It's a mess. Whenever I work on large projects, it gets messy. It's a waste of time to keep things too tidy.  I have used more than 50 different kinds of beads in this piece, and although I keep thinking I will organize all of those boxes by color, I haven't. I'll organize myself later. I think 2013 will be my year. That gives me almost 11 months to procrastinate.

Stay tuned, because tomorrow I'll show you photos of the finished piece.

Chaos & Order Day 11

Day 11. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Day 11.5. Because chaos is always easier when you bring a friend...  See the two little fishes?
Ittty bitty fishes in sterling silver.  I've had them for years, and now they have a nice place to swim.

Chaos & Order Day 10

Yesterday was a good beading day until I got to the end of the bottom right corner. I'm having a hard time gracefully joining the different patterns there. So I decided to put that off until another day.

In case you're wondering what I'm going to do with it, here is my first post.  I want it mounted on pins in a shadow box case where the bead work is removable. I need to hire a professional shadow box maker for that. Anybody know a skilled carpenter/ framer in the Bay Area?

Chaos & Order Day 9

Day 9. I made it to the right border. Now to just fill in the spaces...

Here is a link back to Day 8.

Chaos & Order Day 8

I'm still beading along on my commission.  I added some new stars on the bottom right.

Here's the lengthwise view.  It's approximately six inches wide here and maybe a foot long.  I'm about two thirds done.

Here is a link back to Day 7 and forward to Day 9.

Chaos & Order Day 7

I didn't get too much done yesterday, but there's a bit on the bottom right and top.

 Here's a close up of the super right angle weave in three different sizes.

Just in case you just showed up, here is a link to my first post about this commissioned piece for flat beaded angle weaves.

Here is a link back to Day 6 and forward to Day 8.

Chaos & Order Day 6

More super right angle weave...

Here is a link back to Day 5 and forward to Day 7.

Chaos & Order Day 5

I'm intentionally adding some negative space on the left, those two big squares. I also finished the edge on the right. I decided not to have too much of the lacy bits meet the edges. The denser stitches provide a border both visually and physically.

Go back to Day 4. Go forward to Day 6.

Chaos & Order Day 4

Here is my Day 4 progress on a commission for a large, flat, beaded angle weave art piece that I showed you a few days ago. I thought I'd try photographing it with a black background.

If it were a bracelet, which it isn't, but if it were, here is what it would look like.

Here is a link to Days 1, 2, 3, and an explanation of what I'm doing.
Or maybe you want to go on to Day 5.

Commission Jan 2012

I started working on a commission do a large, framed piece of flat beaded art. I started with free form hexagon angle weave, but not so free form as to loose the pretty patterns in it. I purposely started with a few odd bits, rings of 5 instead of 6 and a couple of 4mm beads just to make things challenging. Then, I spent hours trying to "fix the mistakes" by making adjustments so that everything will fit and lie flat. What results is a crazy patchwork design that is a combination of order and chaos, where one pattern drifts into the next as do the colors. I keep coming back to this theme. I think there are some nice metaphors there, about working around the problems, and that order and confusion can coexist. It's not done yet, but I thought you might like to see my progress.  Here is what it looked like after the first day of weaving.

Here is my progress, day 2. I included a dime so you can see how big it is.

Day 3: I added some super right angle weave and Kepler's Star. I think I've decided to make it sort of a rectangle shape, working on towards the left.

Go on to Day 4.