August 15, 2008
Category: Fractals
Summer around here must be coming to a close. The temperature has dropped and the kids are going back to school. Strangely, these circumstances have gotten me thinking more about the sun, rather than less. I blame my son... he came home after one of his first days at school talking about life on other planets. (Apparently, this week, he is aspiring to be an exobiologist. Previously, he wanted to be a pirate.) He asked what planets might have life and what they looked like, so I pulled out a book titled "Empire of the Sun: Planets and Moons of the Solar System" and we began to leaf through our solar system. Before I could go on to give him the full tour, introducing him to such curious places as Europa and Titan, he paused at an image of a vivid blue sphere. "What’s that?" he asked. "Could there be life there?"
"That’s the sun," I told him.
"Why is it blue?"
I tried to explain about the ultraviolet spectrum, and how we can’t see it, but the cameras we sent to the sun can, and how they show the light as blue so we can see it... but being a 2nd grader, his attention was already drawn on the next set of pictures. Later, when he wasn’t asking a thousand questions a minute, I returned to that picture of the sun, and thought about his original query. Certainly, the sun isn’t likely to host anything we could comfortably call life. But, in a sense, doesn’t it have a life of its own? One could argue that the whole solar system is some sort of life form, with the sun as a beating heart, pumping energy to the rest of the system. But this heart of the system doesn’t simply pulse with a set rhythm. With spots and flares, our dear sun is full of unpredictable personality.
"Empire of the Sun" was published in 1998, before the launch of the 3-D imaging telescope on board NASA's spacecraft, STEREO, specially designed to take pictures of solar flares. So, the image that caught my son’s eye was fuzzy and outdated by today’s standards. STEREO’s images show complex details, with explosions and swirling sunspots in shapes that could only be described as fractals.
Here, I tried to use fractal formulas to mimic that superb imaging. To do this, I basically just layered a few iterations of the same exponential formula that I made a wreath animation from last Christmas. The resulting image looks nothing like Christmas... or even how we usually picture our sun:
A Fractal Sun with "Ultraviolet" Iterations in Color
...But, it does look remarkably similar to some of the first images STEREO sent back to Earth in 2006:
Read on »
Posted by Karmen at 6:22 PM • 0 Comments
July 28, 2008
Category: Riding the Waves
Warning: as the title suggests, this is just one long whine. It probably shouldn’t be read by anyone. For my own sake, I’m putting it out there, anyways. Proceed with caution!
Read on »
Posted by Karmen at 2:12 PM • 4 Comments
July 19, 2008
Category: Art
There’s nothing like spending a month staring at trees. As I hinted recently, my purpose for I was wandering all over the mountains, searching for aspen, was artistic inspiration. But to what end? Well... it all started when I painted my walls. Folks would come and observe my progress.
"The color looks great. But what are you going to do about the doors?"
I’d cringe every time. The battered hollow-core doors in a dark wood stain stuck out like sore thumbs, especially upstairs. There, the hallway was the loft, which was also our office. It’s the one room we spend more time in than any, and here it was overwhelmed by this group of big ugly doors. No room for furniture there, or even any art hung on the wall. What WAS I going to do with those awful doors? I couldn’t afford new ones.
One day, I was looking at my color scheme. I’d chosen a creamy off white color, accented with mossy greens, deep black, bright white. The idea was to make it sort of a relaxing spa sort of feel. (So I wouldn’t always long to go to one!) I figured the Zen-like palette was probably inspired by some bamboo grove or something. Bamboo? What was I doing trying to mimic bamboo? That stuff wouldn’t grow here in Colorado if we tried to force it. Then it hit me... of course. We had something better than bamboo. We had the aspen. And that’s when a lightbulb went off in my head.
Read on »
Posted by Karmen at 3:58 PM • 2 Comments
July 15, 2008
Category: Climate
A new documentary on climate change, Sizzle, is being released soon. The film...
Wait! Don’t start dozing off. I know, I know, you’ve heard this before. I mean, c’mon, you browse around the virtual shelves at Amazon, looking for stuff about climate change, and you certainly won’t have as much difficulty as say, researching dentistry in the dark ages. (Just mouse over the links to see the vast difference." Even I’ve written my own powerpoint on the subject. Yeah. It’s been done. So, what makes this one special?
Well, Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy is not your ordinary documentary. For one, you won’t find any upside-down hurricanes on the cover, nor some nasally narrow-minded narrator. (You will find, however, a very angry-looking polar bear.) For seconds, Sizzle takes everything you thought you knew about science films and throws it out the window. It has a subtle way of making you think, too.
At the beginning, the movie will try gain your interest in matters of climate change and global warming. Soon, you’ll want to cry--or at least shake your head in genuine disgust. But then you will laugh. Then your heartstrings get pulled. And the next thing you know, you’re jumping out of your chair doing the Dean Scream.
The movie follows director Randy Olson (who also happens to be a ScienceBlogger) as he tries to produce a documentary on climate change. Procuring funding proves to be difficult, and Randy turns to two flamboyant producers who seem quite passionate about Global Warming. They eagerly tell him so, repeatedly, at least until something more pressing comes up, like a skin rash. While the producers seek out a dazzling host like Tom Cruise (who is a Scientologist, which, as they point out, is like a scientist) Randy seeks out actual scientists studying climate change.
Read on »
Posted by Karmen at 5:00 AM • 0 Comments
Category: Colorado
A few weeks ago, I headed up into the mountains to find aspen trees and branches for inspiration. I took Magnolia Drive, which rises out of Boulder Canyon and straddles a high ridge before opening out onto the Peak-to-Peak highway running along the continental divide, near Coal Creek Canyon. (The mouth of the latter canyon opens near my home.) So, I had my eyes peeled for trees, but instead I spotted a pair of white-tailed does who were nibbling grass along the roadside:
The deer were so calm when I approached that I was able to take several photographs. I was so taken by the scene, I didn’t realize that the very type of aspen tree I was seeking was growing right there. Out of all of the photographs I took that day, the mature, knobby tree near the deer had the most personality:
Read on »
Posted by Karmen at 12:03 AM • 2 Comments
July 11, 2008
Category: Fractals
Finally, after months of painting, planning, organizing, and flinging, my home is starting to look like a home. I’m down to the little finishing touches: trim and accessories, windows and doors. Some of these just need to be purchased and installed, so, thankfully, this means I can start getting back to normal... cooking, filing, writing, e-mailing, monitoring comments and even (gasp) blogging!
To avoid burnout, I’m returning to blogging on a gradual basis, starting with some interesting but pointless light blogging. Some of it (like this post) might be related to my remodeling, but I promise, not all! I will at least aim to post something every day, so these decorating posts should be buried quickly.
On that note, check out this video, full of custom-made fabric:
About 1:40 into the video, there’s a piece that might look a little familiar:
Read on »
Posted by Karmen at 5:40 PM • 2 Comments
June 13, 2008
Category: Fractals
I mentioned in my last post (a few weeks ago) that I was taking a hiatus from blogging to work on my overgrown home remodel. I’d like to say I’m finished: "woohoo! All done, come and see!" but I’m not. I am, however, getting close. Close enough to start thinking about what type of art I’m going to hang on my newly painted walls. Why not fractals?
A few years ago, I would never have considered hanging a fractal on the wall. Sure, maybe if you have a college dorm room with tie-dyed sheets and Jimi Hendrix posters... but in a family home? Then again, a few years ago, my family strongly disagreed on what a home should look like. I was fond of the old, floral Victorian look, while my husband was drawn to ergonomic, steel-laden pieces. Our son took his father’s tastes a step further, loving anything that looked futuristic... think glowing LEDs and strangely shaped furniture. With that eclectic mix, I always assumed fractal art would be like a garish icing on a bewildering cake.
Then a strange thing happened. We discovered order in the chaos. It happened so subtly, we didn’t even realize it. Like any complex pattern, our cohesion of style depended on just a few simple initial conditions. First, and most importantly, we stopped hoarding crap. Encouraged by the FlyLady, we gradually got rid of years worth of clutter. This allowed us to notice the things in our home that we really loved... a black dining table with drop-down leaves, an antique tree carved from jade and a few Japanese scrolls, commercial-grade linoleum floor in the kitchen with a green and white checker-board pattern. Still a bit eclectic, sure... but the items were just the right seeds to inspire everything else.
On top of all of this, we started trying to "go green"... use recycled products, more efficient appliances and lighting, reducing our consumption of disposable goods, and so on. That turned out to be an essential key. We wanted to see technology and nature working together in harmony. Sprinkle in a little inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright and other mid-century designers, and there you have it: a style fit for the 21st century: organic, minimalist, modern, green, and wi-fi friendly. Every space is designed for multi-tasking, yet appears sleek and clean.
And that leads me back to choosing art for the walls. Why not fractals? The design of the house exhibited fractal properties (both in inspiration and execution... see the last post.) Plus, it didn’t hurt that my fractals have looked more like art lately, rather than simply psychedelic swirls. But if I were to include fractal art in the design, then what sort? The answer came to me as I was trying to come up with an Asian-inspired mural for an otherwise plain hallway upstairs. I was leaning towards a grove of bamboo, but couldn’t quite picture it. Then it hit me... why not go local? Rather than trying to paint some grove of bamboo, growing on another continent where I’ll never see, I chose a similar form, with a Rocky Mountain twist: the quaking aspen.
So, aspen became the cornerstone of my design--a few branches in vases here, murals there... and everywhere the stark contrast of black and white, like the bark of an aspen tree, softened with a mossy green, like the undersides of aspen leaves glowing in the Colorado sun. Since I made an aspen-inspired fractal some time ago, choosing the pattern for a fractal accent was a no-brainer. So, I turned back to the Mandelbrot set, where I first found these leaf-shaped forms. Combined with a coloring pattern based on fractal Brownian motion and the colors painted on my kitchen walls, this led to a very elegant fractal art piece:
Aspen in the Mandelbrot Set
This is a small version of what I’m hanging in the kitchen. The actual image measures 18x24 inches at 300 dpi--a suitable poster size. It will be mounted in a black frame with a cream colored matting. If you are interested in purchasing this fractal for your own home, please contact me using the button at the top of the page. I can easily adjust the framing options to match the decor of your home or office.
In the meantime, I have a remodel to finish. Since we’re putting the finishing touches on the kitchen this weekend, I expect to have some before-and-after pictures to share later next week. Also, I hope to soon be at the point where I can spend some of my day writing or blogging, rather than just painting and touching up around the house. I’m a long way from being finished with the whole thing (that will come in July or August, I imagine) but at least, meanwhile, I can go back to my "normal" life. Thanks for your patience!
Fractal made using ChaosPro.
Posted by Karmen at 4:18 PM • 4 Comments
May 23, 2008
Category:
I know you’ve probably come here looking for a new fractal. Unfortunately, the only thing fractalish around here is my frustrations with home remodeling. I suppose any project can do it--grow madly out of control: each small problem cascading into another, until the whole thing seems overwhelming. Sometimes, it can cause a nervous breakdown. I reached that point over spring break, when we tried to paint and renovate our entire house in a few days. (Hey, they make it look easy on TV!) At that point, I gave up, and said it would have to be done on the weekends. Then, of course, came finals and all the end-of-semester chaos. So, with summer here, I figured I could dive into the remodel and catch up with a billion other things. Heh.
The problem is, the remodel itself is turning into a billion other things. Removing one light fixture reveals ceiling damage which delays painting, which renders the room unusable for another day, and so on. Well, rather than suffer another anxiety attack over the whole mess, I’ve decided to just take it on, one step at a time, until it is done. (As it turns out, that’s the only sane way to proceed. With each little change, a beautiful new room begins to emerge.) The catch is, I have no idea how long it will take to finish. And yes, this blogging hiatus will continue for as long as it takes.
Perhaps, when I return, I’ll remodel this page, too. That sounds a little less daunting than transitioning a home’s style from eclectic and traditional to modern minimalism--but, as they advise, I won’t count my chickens until they’re hatched. In the meantime, please accept my apologies for what seem to be infinite delays on updates.
Posted by Karmen at 2:05 PM • 6 Comments
May 11, 2008
Category: Ecology
Let’s finish this weekend of red, orange, and yellow, with some flowers for Mom. And a honeybee. The blossoms are more pink than red, but the bee definitely has the orange/yellow look going for it.
Moms like bees, right? Consider this: if it wasn’t for the bees, fertilizing everything from almond and cherry trees to rose blossoms, Mother’s Day gifts would be pretty lame--no flower bouquets, no boxes of fancy filled chocolates. See? Moms love bees... at least indirectly.
So, here are some flowers for Mom... with a bee:
Honeybee Pollinating a Prairie Fire Crabapple Blossom
Personally (whether or not it has anything to do with my being a mother) I’m pretty happy to see honeybees around. Last week, there was a healthy swarm of bees darting around all the local crabapple trees. They didn’t mind me sneaking up to take this photo. Instead, they were busy collecting and distributing pollen--just like I’d hoped they would. If our local honeybee colonies succumb to CCD, these poor trees, along with their gifts of blossom and fruit, won’t stand a chance.
Maybe one of the best presents you can give to any mom is to lend a hand to the honeybees. It might be easier than you think. BackyardHive.com sells, not surprisingly, hives for the backyard. The simple setup is supposed to be inexpensive and low maintenance. The top-loading feature of the hive produces less honey than the sort used in commercial setups, but it is less invasive to both the bees and the beekeeper. In other words, this one is designed for the amateur hobbyist.
Even if you don’t plan to set up your own hive in your backyard (or if Mom isn’t too keen on having one set up in her yard) BackYardHive is still an interesting read. For instance, take this article from a first-time bee wrangler, Will Dart:
Read on »
Posted by Karmen at 11:58 AM • 1 Comments
May 10, 2008
A student in Colorado, looking for some sort of synthesis--the big picture, encompassing all the strangeness in the universe--but willing to settle for the philosophic or poetic lens.
