The Book of Symbols, Day 11: River

Day 11: River, collage, 6x6 in., Otto

River is vital fluidity, the rivers move through both the upper world and the lower world, over ground and underground, inside and outside...

- ARAS

Looks Like Flower Power

Dodecahedron Net, graphite pencils, 6x9 in., Otto

...but it's really a dodecahedron net!


And by the way, there are 43,380 distinct nets for this polyhedron.

Dodecahedron Here +

Dodecahedron Form, graphite pencils, 6x9 in., Otto

Hey, what can I say? It is what it is. And it's very meditative to do, after I figure out how to draw the shape, that is.



+Actually...I've spent a lot of time putting together another blog for the people taking my upcoming workshop, Cultivating a Daily Creative Practice.  I'm starting a practice Practice group on Monday to get a feel for it.  Anyway, that way the participants can use the blog to post their daily practice if they want.

Octahedra Are Cool

Octahedron Frame, graphite pencils, 6x9 in., Otto

No doubt about it.








hmmm...wonder where this is all going to lead...like the song says, "I'm on the road to somewhere..."

Nets for Octahedrons

Octahedron Net, graphite pencils, 6x9 in., Otto

There are 11 possibilities, but isn't this one just the coolest?

yea...

But Why an Octahedron?

Octahedron Form, graphite pencils, 6x9 in., Otto

Well, an octahedron seems to merely be 2 tetrahedra smacked together for all I can tell...

What's the point of calling it one of the five platonic solids then?  

Guess I'll just have to educate myself, if I really want to know...


Pretty cool shape anyway...

sort of  "as above, so below," don't ya think?

Another Square, Man

Cube Frame, graphite pencils, 6x9 in., Otto

You know the drill...

3 versions of each platonic solid...

so, here's the last of the cubes - showing off its framework.

Cube Net, As Is - NOT

Cube Net (before), graphite pencils, 6x9 in., Otto

Apparently there are only 3 possible nets for a cube.  

Who knew?  

This is the second type I've drawn...

...and I've done so in a less neat-and-tidy way.

Does it make a difference? ...in any aesthetic sort of way?

I think it might have felt more interesting or freeing to draw...
we'll see....

Cube Net (after), graphite pencils, 6x9 in., Otto

And here we do see...I was just being lazy before.


This looks so much better, and felt so much more satisfying doing it.  

After taking a break and doing some reading, I went back in the studio and went over it all for another hour until it felt right and finished.

ahh

A Cube, a Box, a Hexahedron

Cube Form, graphite pencils, 6x9 in., Otto

...a regular hexahedron, that is. 



- I am just learning so much about math and science these days -






And there's more to come...

Polyhedra A-Plenty

Tetrahedron Form, graphite pencils, 6x9 in., Otto

Tetrahedron Net, graphite pencils,6x9 in., Otto

Here's a 3-dimensional rendering of one of the five platonic solids - a tetrahedron.

Tetrahedron Frame, graphite pencils, 6x9 in., Otto

And a drawing of one of two possible "nets" or diagrams for folding a 3-dimensional tetrahedron shape (with the addition of my light scales, of course!)













And finally, a drawing of the frame of a tetrahedron so you can see through it.




I could go on and on...




you know I can...

Next Up: Platonic Solids

Icosahedron, graphite pencils, 9x6 in., Otto

Yes, I've been playing around with the following 5 polyhedra, but as unfolded flat images, rather than solid geometrical shapes...

Why you might ask?  Well, that's just what interests me...the diagram aspect of it.  The step-by-step procedure for creating them...and of course, figuring out how to apply my light scale sequence to it.  

Which is something I've been experimenting with in each polyhedron...

Dodecahedron, graphite pencils, 9x6 in., Otto

Octahedron, graphite pencils,9x6 in.,Otto

Cube, graphite pencils, 9x6 in., Otto

Tetrahedron, graphite pencils, 9x6 in., Otto

So Many Inklings, So Little Time

3 Intersecting Planes by M.C. Escher

...coming fast and furious, but really, I have all the time that I need for my creative process don't ya know.

Anyway, Escher coming through, and platonic solids, and paper folding, crease patterns, and graduating light scales, and Notan or principles of shadow and light - both Jungian and design-wise, cultivating a daily creative practice workshop, and Sufism, and of course the labyrinth designs, mandalas in general, sequences, stages, phases, diagrams, geometric/ archetypal forms, systems.  

It's all in there, stirring around, re-combining, shifting, sifting.  I'm just percolating...and drawing, and being fascinated... 

A Roman Labyrinth Complete

Roman Labyrinth, graphite pencils, 7x7 in., Otto

eh,

not so interesting to me...

since the Roman labyrinth doesn't crisscross into the different quadrants until each section has completed its spiral, my overlay system hasn't much room to play out.

...turns out, when each quadrant is basically the same, the light scales lay out basically the same, and the end result is...

not so interesting to me.

A False Duality Revealed

work in progress: Roman Labyrinth

yeah..., so what I seem to find fascinating about doing these drawings is that I'm working within two very simple, structured systems: 1) the labyrinth design, and 2) the light scales. Both go in and out or forward and back in only one way - the labyrinth goes step-by-step into the center and out from the center, the light scales incrementally transition from dark to light and back again.

I wanted to overlay one system upon the other, and starting with the darkest dark at the center point of the labyrinth, follow its path around and out, by following the transitions of the light scale. Even though they were both systems of a type, the light scales were going to work at odds with the symmetry of the labyrinths. I liked the fact that even while all things were constant within their respective parameters, the drawings were unpredictable and looked, well, odd.

Drawing A Medieval Labyrinth

Chartres, graphite pencils,7x7 in.,Otto

...using light scales with graphite pencils,

its the second of a series,

apparently.  

Labyrinth as Light Scale - Redux

Classical 7-circuit Labyrinth, graphite pencils,6x6 in., Otto

Completed...okay, I refined it and then continued until the cycle was finished, going from dark to light and back again.

...using a combo of Creta-color graphite pencils and then some Tombow Mono Professional pencils for the H's.

hmph, interesting because using the light scales morphs the labyrinth into a different form...really sort of disguising it more than emphasizing it...almost 3-D-ing it.

hmph.

Light Scale Labyrinth

...using all the range of graphite pencils.

It's not really complete, as a labyrinth, that is.

Maybe not as a drawing either...perhaps I'll continue with the light scales in reverse - going from light to dark and back again - until it completes itself.

The Labyrinth is Stage 3 or Turning Toward the Journey in the Archetypal Stages of the Great Round of Mandala workshop I've been doing.

When a Name Does Not a Pencil Make

But first, here's a light scale mandala using my new Prismacolor Turquoise Drawing Pencils - 20 of them ranging from 9B to 9H.  

I very much dislike the feel of these pencils -- they're  inconsistent, rough and scratchy, and often mismarked.  

Perhaps they've disintegrated in quality after all the company buy outs.  I can remember them being labeled as Venus, Eagle and Berol Turquoise pencils over the years,  prior to this latest Prismacolor takeover.

Rolling, Rolling

...down a light scale mandala using my Faber-Castell 9000 drawing pencils (6B -5H) from Germany.

Speaking of Rolls

Here's a mandala of light scales using my Tombow Mono Professional Drawing Pencils (6B-6H) from Japan.  

They're my fav...sooo smooth and elegant looking too, the pencils that is. 

Also they have more of a full range from dark to light...although they could use a 5H in the ensemble, don't you think?