Thoughts Behind the Binary Birthday Series

We are surrounded!  They are in our homes, cars and they wake us up in the morning.  Numbers are with us at every turn, explaining why things are the way they are.  Love or hate, numbers are with us to use as a tool to understand and improve our lives.

  My current focus in art is the visual nature of mathematics and numbers.  In genreal, we use a number system that utilizes a base of ten for day to day living.  In the background of our computer use is a number system of base two - the binary system.  It is fascinating that the fastest thinking objects we have uses a series of ones and zeros to access not just numbers, but words and symbols.  About a year ago I started playing around with binary numbers and what they look like.  The challenge for me was how could I use them as a tool to create a two-dimensional artwork that looked interesting and had meaning beyond what it looks like.

As with many things, a little bit of conflict can push your ideas.  I wanted to make a birthday gift for my father that had math content utilizing binary numbers.  The actual birth date became the gift translated into binary code as a series of cells in which occupied one of two colors.  Each of the colors was assigned a value of zero or one and the paint by number binary code began!

What does your birth date look like??!!

Why Draw Circles?

This week must be full of realizations.  So my mountains have changed this week.  I do love the mountains, the perfect escape from reality, from electronics, from me.

I draw these little circle drawings to escape from my reality.  I can "build" these small in size pictures with rules that I create with a math thought here and there.  Fibonacci Numbers to divide the plane, because I need some structure, then random circles that float around.  I can draw my lines in ink to hold everything in place.  They (the lines) allow me to respond to the randomness of the circles with decisiveness and a plan thought of in advance.

My escape in art is to build my own world that looks and feels like no other.  It is safe and I understand the rules because they are mine.