Chama Red Hills Dynamic Symmetry plus Golden Spiral
- Material
- Oil
- Size
- 10x16 Aspect Ratio 1.6 near golden mean
En plein air. Painted on the edge from the side of the Chama River Overlook. On exhibit with the Santa Fe Pleinarians at Joe's Dining and Art on Rodeo Road in Santa Fe, July-December, 2024
Expanded Dynamic Symmetry Armature plus Fibonacci Spiral with eye at the upper right (focal point). Another “PHI”, near-Golden, painting, with potential focal points at the intersections of the main diagonals with their reciprocals (also the eyes of the spirals). The diagonals seem to parallel the main hill line leading back to the right cliff focal point. We see the repeated motif of the shadows and light forms aligning with the spiral.
The Golden Spiral is approximated by the Fibonacci or Whirling Squares' Spiral. The whirling squares are constructed within rectangles as they rotate around the eye of a spiral. Note in passing that the squares formed here have side lengths, successive Fibonacci terms: 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13 (in reverse), etc, where each term is the sum of the previous two terms. The ratios of successive Fibonacci terms get closer and closer to the Golden Mean (1.168...): 2/1 = 2, 3/2 = 1.5, 5/3 - 1.666.., 8/5 = 1.6, 13/8=1.625, 21/13=1.615..., 34/21=1.619..., 55/34=1.6176..,
The Golden Spiral has been hailed since antiquity by artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci as the most beautiful, perhaps because it can be seen throughout nature (galaxy and fern spirals, Nautilus Shell, the human body, etc.).
