Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Mandelbrot Iteration #8

hi there!

i love fractals. they're so infinite, complex, endlessly fascinating. i have a program that will generate them called fraqtive (free open source program, if you get interested!). you choose all sorts of parameters, colors, etc to create them. you can then zero in on a particular section & explore!

this is one of my favorites of the ones i've created so far. it's full name is Normalized Iteration Count Algorithm 8! I call it The Red One:

i've been wanting to paint it for a while. when i finished the september plums i realized the colors i had on the palette would be perfect for it. so i took out a 5x5 dark-gold toned canvas, and sketched in some cad red light.

i decided i needed a darker blue, so i got out the ant blue, & lightened it with some white. to put in the black & green, though, i needed the paint to be more fluid. so i cleaned the brush, but didn't dry it as thoroughly as usual, leaving some walnut oil in it. this let me pick up the paint & spread it much more liquidly than usual. the green is sap plus white, the black a combo of ant blue, quin rose, and a hint of trans yellow oxide. i played with the shapes a bit & got both sides in.

then for the little curlicues on top. hmmm . . . i decided to go more playful than the original, and put in a series of dots. i did that, then changed the shapes of the black merging into the blue - and there it was!


i'm pretty happy with it, & am encouraged to paint more of my fractals. tho i wonder if i should come up with less computerese names for them, like 'cliffs at sunset' or something!

thanks for stopping by - take care till next time!

dusty!

oh - i meant to say - i hope this blog may prove useful to beginner painters like myself - if there's anything i can be doing to make this blog more helpful, please let me know! thanks!

10 comments:

  1. You captured the colors and shapes beautifully!

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  2. thank you! the double creation process (first digital, then painted) was really interesting & fun!

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  3. I like your title (The Red One). Very fun idea.

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  4. thank you! making fractals is one of those things where you suddenly look at the time & it's been hours! err, well . . . at least for me!

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  5. thank you! it's so much fun to do! tho i find it hard to remember to take photos while i'm in the throes of painting!

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  6. I always wondered what it would be like to try to paint a fractal! I used to play with fractal programs for hours on end trying to come up with something good. I love yours.

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  7. thank you! how neat you're into fractals too! they can be so complicated, i decided to focus in on just a tiny part for creating paintings from - am not a detail person!

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  8. You know I love abstracts like Mondrians and Kandinskys so it's probably no surprise that I adore the colors in this. I hope you do more of these.

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  9. thank you! i have hundreds just awaitin'!

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