Friday, October 22, 2010

Golden Mean

I'm teaching a basic painting class at the local community college this semester.   A discussion of composition is part of this week's lesson.  It always makes me think of Deon Bahr, a painting friend I met at the ANAC camp in Halsey a few years ago.  The painting to the left is one he started at Halsey.  Deon is an architect, and his geometric paintings and sculptures are often based on his fascination with the number Phi, known as the "Golden Mean," or the "Golden Number."  At camp, Deon explained to us the basis of the "Phi-nomenon."   I have a copy of the sketch he made in his graph paper notebook, showing the mathematical formation of the nautilus shell design.  Check out his website.

I found another site, in my research for class, that has a great visual explanation for the nautilus concept on it's homepage.  Check out  this graphic.

Let's work on great compositions!

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