The Topkapi Palace as seen from the east. LeCorbusier I felt LeCorbusier’s presence in Turkey. And this was before I realized that Turkey was an inspiration for him. I always knew that his travels in Greece were formative to his self education. It turns out that he went to Turkey during this same 7 month […]
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26Jun
2014
ON REALISM – A LETTER TO HELEN
2014
Why not draw realistically? After all, a basic tenant of realism is that it represents truth. A completely natural drawing is done without any outside artifice. Forms, textures, shadows, etc. are all rendered as closely as possible to what the eye sees. Helen wrote to us to say that since she is concerned chiefly […]
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25Jun
2014
CHOISEY TRANSPARENCY
2014
A Choisey projection is one in which the observer is looking up at the interior of the building. It takes the floor plan, and projects with parallel lines the spacial interior. The basic beauty of Choisey is that a building’s interior volume, exterior mass, and cross section are synthesized into one drawing, one view. Of […]
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23Jun
2014
ORDINARY BUILDING 2
2014
For many people of our ilk, the brakes on our cars sure get a workout. We know the routine. We are driving along, typically trying to get someplace on time. And then there is something that we absolutely have to take a picture of. The form might be interesting. Or the light is distinctive. And […]
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20Jun
2014
FIRE PHONE
2014
Amazon introduced their new Fire Phone. A technology perk that tries to distinguish the Fire from any other phone is what Amazon calls “dynamic perspective.” The cameras on the device tracks the position that you are holding the phone and the position of your head. My understanding is that any change in this head / […]
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18Jun
2014
BEAUX-ARTS BLAME GAME 2
2014
There was a building boom in America after the Civil War. American architects were very concerned regarding both the low quality of the design and construction of these buildings. Thus there was a large American contingent in Paris between 1890 and 1910. An early culmination of all of this French architectural influence was the World’s […]
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16Jun
2014
X RAYS
2014
It suddenly occurred to me; the technology of X-rays has been producing essentially transparent images for a long time. Mr. Røntgen, as we learned in science class, is the scientist who established a systematic understanding of X-rays in 1895. Of course, X-rays were first seen by other scientists before that. Some scientists saw the X-ray […]
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13Jun
2014
VILLA GIRASOLE
2014
Here comes a curve ball. Villa Girasole by architect Angelo Invernizzi. The house was designed to rotate to follow the sun. Il girasole in Italian means “sunflower”. The house sits on a large diameter cylinder. Fossil fuel engines then propel the house around the circular drum as part of a daily cycle. I encourage you […]
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12Jun
2014
PAUL KLEE AND TRANSPARENCY
2014
Paul Klee seems to be thinking transparently in this watercolor. He seems to be employing what to this point we would call a Byzantine space time understanding. It is not an isometric drawing where all of the lines are parallel. And it is not quite a linear perspective where everything is rationalized to one vanishing […]
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11Jun
2014
QUICK START
2014
If you have persevered thru any of this, you might be wondering how you would start to do a transparent drawing. You might have an urge to find a piece of paper, a pencil, and something to make tones with. If you have this urge, then in one sense the mission of this website is […]
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