Tornados in the lab

A couple from today; will post more soon

‘Spiral driven complexity’

‘Helter skelter’

‘Opening wide’

new subaquatic findings in the lab

During my ongoing hunt for new species of lab-grown jellyfish , I found other plant-like forms and patterns along the way. Here are a few examples; more findings on my flickr stream. ‘Vortices from Versailles’ reminded me of Baroque or Rococo ironwork.

‘It’s a wrap’

‘Up close and personal’

‘Vortices from Versailles’

“Evolution” has evolved

Some months back I posted a video called ‘Evolution’ made from movie clips of fluid flow, including Hele-Shaw flow and soap film. I have now revised the video to include images of more recent work, as well as a soundtrack composed by family members, namely “iPB Soundscapes”.

Here is the new version:

Meta transmorphosis

Using Mathematica to interpret shapes that are already complex … the first one is derived from ‘Deep coloured space’ (ink in water), which appears on this site under the heading ‘Positive space’.

‘Deep coloured space morph’

‘Zoom morphosis’

Growth and form .. on the jellyfish trail

D’Arcy Thompson’s book “On Growth and Form’, which talks about biological forms being the outcome of physical processes, has always been of great interest and over the years I have seen many artistic examples of his theory in my own artwork. Yesterday in the lab I tried out an experiment described in his book, where ink, dropped into water, takes up jellyfish-like forms which have radial symmetry. It needs a few goes to get it right – here are one or two, along with some other sea creatures I have found recently.

I am preparing a collection of jellyfish made in this way, and also with inksplosions and smoke, and will post them in a gallery sometime soon.

‘skeletal jellyfish’

‘Jellied bifurcation’

‘Suspended form’

‘Born in sapphire seas’

‘Translucent shoals’

Gardens … outside and inside

This week I discovered new gardens, plant and animal forms and features within them – real water features, and plant like objects created with water and light. Here is a selection of what I found.

‘Rainbow landscaping’

‘A new species of Saponiferae’

‘Garden of unearthly light’

‘Exotic Evolver’

And here is a water feature of a different kind – a burst pipe at Killerton Gardens producing some interesting jets and sprays

‘The sharper edge’

Positive space

Here are few examples of positive space taken recently from the worlds of ink and water; glass and light, and soap film – where it contrasts in all cases with the inkiest of blacks.

‘Deep coloured space’

‘Coloured space’ – Detail from later in the sequence

‘Light and space’

‘What can we not see’

Illusions and visual confusions

Here are a few from the past week or so – filmed at Exeter Uni Streatham Campus and at home. I love ambiguity in images; the more possible interpretations an image has, the more interesting it becomes.

‘Knight in shining armour’

‘Don’t walk on the grass’

‘Rainy day’

‘Inner fluorescence’

‘organza glow’

‘plunging jellyfish’

sfumato in the lab

The closer I look at smoke the more beautiful it is. Small droplets of oil catch the light and form graceful vortices, smoke rings and ethereal swirls. The grainy effect in some of these pictures is due to the tiny drops of oil. I took several hundred pics yesterday; it will take a while to sort them out, but here are a few, and more at my Smoke gallery.

‘So the ether does exist’

‘Baroque emissions’

‘Dynamic folds’

Incense and light entertainment

I’ve never tried incense sticks for smoke visualization before .. apart from the strange smell and the coughing they caused it was good fun. Here are a few, and a couple of light ones from recently.

‘smoke shell’

‘involutions’

‘Rays into scrolls’

‘Extra transparency’

‘Light Ballet’