The Shortest Distance

I got to reflecting on how today's paintings came to be, and found myself thinking about the idea that "the shortest distance between two points is a straight line" which in turn led me to the internet where I was entertained by the following as part of an evaluation of the shortest-distance-straight-line theorem:

I(y)=∫x2x11+(y′)2‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾√dx, $$I(y)={\int }_{x_1}^{x_2}\sqrt{1+(y^{\prime }{)}^2}dx,$$

at which point I promptly jumped ship on Euclidian proofs and math altogether.

I painted postcards today. My starting point was actually an exploration I did in December 2015. At that time, my first pass on paper took me here:

.

About a week after that, and after playing with the piece further, I cut my exploration into quadrants, one of which I cut into many smaller bits that became this piscine portrait,

,

and the other three of which fell by the wayside until I rediscovered them with delight last weekend while looking for something else. In the past few days I played with them until they became a series of postcards.

Straight line?

Short distance?

Whatever!

The Freedom to Ask Questions
4x5", acrylic and pastels on paper,
mounted on manila stock
abstract
2017
[gift]

The Freedom to Sing
4x5", acrylic, pastels, collage, and ink on paper,
mounted on manila stock
abstract
2017
[gift]

The Freedom to Talk to Yourself

4x5", acrylic, pastels, collage, and ink on paper,

mounted on manila stock

abstract

2017
[gift]