A fun little STEAL FROM THE BEST

I’ve recently been reading The Cosmic Dance: Finding Patterns and Pathways in a Chaotic Universe, by Stephen Ellcock, the bulk of which is gorgeous illustrations of cosmic concepts. One of them triggered a small memory:

Louise bourgeois. throbbing pulse. 1944. [image from moma—click to go there]

Back in the day, late 60s/early 70s, during the heyday of Op Art, I used to do drawings like this. They were never anything I devoted serious attention to; they tickled my brainthoughts into wondering about perception and they were fun.

The idea was simplicity itself: take a pen/pencil and draw a straight line across the bottom of the paper. Repeat. Keep going.

Even with only three lines on the page, the unsteadiness of your hand will have created little bumps in the lines. Pay attention. Follow those bumps. Allow yourself to exaggerate them a bit.

Repeat. Soon…

…you’ve created a little topographical landscape.

Our minds refuse to see those as simple horizontally scribbled lines. We see three-dimensional ridges and valleys. I think that’s cool.

Give it a try yourself. Variations: Introduce dots or shapes to interrupt the flow. Start with a shape in the center and work your way out. Use straight angles only. Use different colors.

The cool part is that you can’t “mess up.” It’s all random anyway.