Tetrahedra and Icosahedra with Grasses



 
 

Click to enlarge Click to enlarge

Ducks swimming in a pond at the Phoenix Zoo. The math structure is a stage-4 Sierpinski Tetrahedron (in the drawing, the Sierpinski Tetrahedron is only a stage-2). I was lucky to get this. Ducks usually make a fast escape. What looks like thick grass in the background is called Cattails (Typhus sp.).

Print drawing on "Landscape" setting. I had difficulty with the ducks heads. I couldn't trace them against the dark water.


 
 
 

Click to enlarge Click to enlarge

The Sierpinski tetrahedron looks especially delicate in this picture, partially covered up by grasses with these beautiful little Blanket Flowers. I found them in the Desert Grassland section of the Plants and People Trail at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens in Spring 2001.


 
 
 

Click to enlarge Click to enlarge

The icosahedron looked like a jewel in this Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum v. 'Cupreum'), and the sharp edges of the grass held onto it as the wind blew. Taken at the Phoenix Zoo in Spring 2001. The drawing was made from a different picture that was taken that same day, and when I realized it, I decided to put the better picture up, even though it does not match the drawing.


 
 
 

Click to enlarge Click to enlarge

When you click to enlarge, the image shown is the same one in the drawing. This is again an icosahedron with an interior structure of an intersection of three Golden Rectangles, taken at the Phoenix Zoo in Spring 2001. The interior is purple and it complements the purple-toned fluffy tips of the Wild Green Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum). Grass comes in so many pretty tones!


 
 
 

Click to enlarge Click to enlarge

This was taken in early January of 2001 at the Phoenix Zoo, before I got my own camera. The stage-3 Sierpinski Tetrahedron is sitting in Vetiver Grass (Vetiver sp.).


 
 
 

Click to enlarge Click to enlarge

Icosahedron with an interior structure of an intersection of three golden rectangles sitting in some sort of Oak tree (Quercus sp.). Taken at the Phoenix Zoo in late February of 2001. When looking at the photographs, try to gently notice things about the math structures in them. Let your eyes rest on them and take in details, without forcing anything. 

The grass in this trace really needs some work, as it looks sort of like a waterfall, especially at the bottom of the drawing. Aren't the leaves beautiful? They were very stiff.


 
 

Frequently Asked Questions

The contents of this web page are © Copyright Gayla Chandler.
Permission must be sought for all but personal use for study or enjoyment.