Divine proportion

If I'm not wrong, the simplest regular geometric form (not figure) the divine proportion [ φ = (1 + sqr 5) / 2 ] can express is the tetrahedron. The tetrahedron is related to the element fire, like in the image, simulated fire, as I could, and the tetrahedron forms the icosahedron (water), with rotational ordering, in four positions. There are three more and the sphere. The tetrahedron is one angelic figure, it is the only one inscribed in itself, in opposition to the cube and the dodecahedron, male figures over which the feminine octahedron and the icosahedron are inscribed into; males because of angles opposite planes; the five regular solid figures have been given a lot of theory, and a lot of Spinoza to us. :-)




In this tetrahedron: one face, the Beauty, one face the Truth, one face the Goodness, one face you have to figure out by yourself, is not visible here. :-)

So, related to this:
Happy birthday, J., Divine proportionate angelic tetrahedron. :-D

And related to that, (read with attention! hihi, notice the triangle water-air-earth, but also, fire, and the last element):

My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a water'd shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these
Because my love is come to me.

Raise me a dais of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work it in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.

Christina Rosetti, "A Birthday".

Self-portrait

Strange, ugly, pretentious image as the name of the blog, self-mocking though, and not funny really, but one day thought "how should look a self-portrait make from ground zero with IGA's". This wasn't the best result but the most simple one. I saw one figurative self with sunglasses there :-P

Bertrand Russell will surely improve this self-praising post:

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the desire for love, the search for knowledge, and great sadness at the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have sent me from one task to another, over a deep ocean of sadness, to the very edge of despair.
I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy — a pleasure so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness —that terrible loneliness that exists in the absence of love. I have sought it, finally, because in love I have seen a small part of the vision of heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what — at last — I have found.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to understand the mysteries of mathematics. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always great sadness brought me back to earth. Sounds of cries of pain fill my heart. Children in famine, victims being tortured, helpless old people a heavy burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make human life less than it should be. I want to lessen the suffering of mankind, but I cannot, and I too suffer.
This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

Bertrand Russell, "The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell", Prologue.

Cloud-spotting: winged demon

Too cold days in the south of the world to lie in the grass and spot the cloud shapes; also some busy days to me to do the same.
Helped by GA's I could find a resemblance of a winged demon in the clouds; the recursion is visible, this particular zone of it made the magic.



Look at this for, like, representing the voice of the cloud-make winged demon, in the autumn of the world (image was made days ago, still in autumn, here)... he wants redemption, and he is sweet, :-) Tagore do not thought it as this, but is nice giving it the demon voice, for companionship of the image:


I am like a remnant of a cloud of autumn
uselessly roaming in the sky, O my sun ever-glorious!
Thy touch has not yet melted my vapor,
making me one with thy light,
and thus I count months and years separated from thee.

If this be thy wish and if this be thy play,
then take this fleeting emptiness of mine,
paint it with colors, gild it with gold,
float it on the wanton wind and spread it in varied wonders.

And again when it shall be thy wish to end this play at night,
I shall melt and vanish away in the dark,
or it may be in a smile of the white morning,
in a coolness of purity transparent.

Rabindranath Tagore, "Roaming Cloud".

Moon over growing wave

Something has been posted before (in "the moon and the tides") regarding the topic, but I can swear now is a more profound approach to this symbols.

IGA (and any no hand-driven techniques), are hard to be used to create this kind of images (this one or "Nocturne" in June the 14th), at least the IGA ones I know, so I'm surprised with this results.
Also, here is one translation problem, in spanish "creciente" (like the first quarter moon), it means also "growing" in english, but "waxing gibbous wave" or "first quarter wave" would never mean the same, so this is "Luna sobre ola creciente", perfect double sense in spanish, lost in english, unfortunately.

Again the old symbols in humanity: the moon, the beloved, or the object of our affection; and the sea, the love (in this regards and symbology; but normally represents anything uncontrollable).
This sufi poem fits perfectly :-)

Suddenly, in the sky at dawn, a moon appeared,
Descended from the sky
Turned its burning gaze on me,
Like a hawk during the hunt seizing a bird,
Grabbed me and flew with me high into heaven.
When I looked at myself, I could not see myself
For in this moon, my body, by grace, had become soul.
And when I traveled in this soul, I saw nothing but moon,
Until the mystery of eternal theophany lay open to me.
All the nine heavenly spheres were drowned in this moon.
The skiff of my being drowned, dissolved, entirely, in that Sea.
Then, that Sea broke up into waves, Intelligence danced back,
And launched its song,
And the Sea covered over with foam,
And from each bubble of foam something sprang, clothed in form,
Something sprang from each light-bubble, clothed in a body.
Then each bubble of body-foam received a sign from the Sea,
Melted immediately and followed the flow of its waves.
Without the saving, redeeming help of my Lord,
Shams-ul-Haqq of Tabriz,
No one can contemplate the moon, no one can become the Sea.

Jalal ad-Din Rumi, "Suddenly, in the sky at dawn, a moon appeared".

Blooming dawn

Oh, how naive (better said cursi) a person can be :-) Using GA's for this, come on!... A sun like a flower, heart-shaped clouds around sunbeam petals, somebody kick me please :-P
You know, the old symbols, the dawn, the new life; the sky, the fate; the flower, complex one, sometimes means love, except on Kafka, haa, haa.

[...]
Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair;
Like Twilight's, too, her dusky hair;
But all things else about her drawn
From May-time and the cheerful Dawn;
[...]

William Wordsworth, "She was a phantom of delight".

Heart of the Manta-Ray (Happy father's day)

June the 17th: For father's day in Argentina and most of the world, not all of it.

Half and a half, I got my interest in fauna and flora symbology out of my readings and from my father, he love watching animals, but also hunting some; me, much less than love watching them, and no hunting at all. My favourites are big felines, like most people, but the lemurs are there too. My father favourites by far are the Manta Rays; this in one of my first works, the first I have saved, I think, other ones were erased long ago, this is from 2003, while I was fighting my way into interactive genetic algorithms, it looks like a Biomorph (A non-representational form or pattern that resembles a living organism in shape or appearance), but as always, it isn't that but one IGA image.
What my father likes from Manta-Rays, like many people, is that "flying" motion they have when swimming, like they were half-air half-water fauna; mostly like my father, all the time looking incoherent with its environment.
He liked the image, it is "Heart of the Manta ray".

Hypnotizer

This is the hypnotizer. Thing is, looks like that two layers are there, but I don't use layers nor filter the GA images; I liked how the brown "background" adapted its flowing to the shape of the basic colours in front. Nothing special, but nice to me, since it looks different to others I've made; I like to do varied or different images when possible, one to each other.

Nocturne

Ok, it is known one nocturne is a musical composition inspired by the spirit of the night, or evocative of the same. So I was listening to Chopin's nocturne in C sharp minor, while this started to take form, one night sky and one sort of night sea. Very difficult to achieve with IGA's I must say, normally pure math do not achive this kind of images.
This is from one of my favourite books and author of all times, Hymns to the night, from immortal Novalis; don't know why :-) it seemed to me very appropiate for the image:

At no grave can weep
Any who love and pray.
The gift of Love they keep,
From none can it be taken away.
To soothe and quiet his longing,
Night comes and inspires --
Heaven's children round him thronging
Watch and guard his heart.

Have courage, for life is striding
To endless life along;
Stretched by inner fire,
Our sense becomes transfigured.
One day the stars above
Shall flow in golden wine,
We will enjoy it all,
And as stars we will shine.

The love is given freely,
And Separation is no more.
The whole life heaves and surges
Like a sea without a shore.
Just one night of bliss --
One everlasting poem --
And the sun we all share
Is the face of God.

Novalis, Hymns to the Night.

Holy brightness

I've changed the license of all the works posted here to one less restrictive, because myself I'm less restrictive, it doesn't have any sense keeping that old one, so now they are licensed to anyone to be able to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt any of these images to their own work and taste. It was incoherent not allowing remixing and adapting of my genetic algorithms images, when that is exactly what we do with genetic algorithms, to adapt and remix our own or other's people images; so well, now anyone is free to modify any image found here, inside the same CC 3.0 license.
No-one should be restricted in its creative impulse.
The exact legal boring legal code, is on the right panel now, anyway.




This image, "Holy brightness", I suspect is one halo, and one forehead... the eyes cannot be seen by mere mortals. :-)
Recently, on a re-read of La cifra, from Jorge Luis Borges, I've found, or rediscovered (thanks to J.) one really powerful, beautiful little poem; little, yes, why not :-) which speaks with tremors and directness also, about the beauty of life, of what is good and bad, and some truths about the human spirit; all with focus in the relationship of the poet with its guardian angel.

I must say, translating Borges poetry it is very much like ruining big part of it. So I'll not do the hedious task here, I already tried with his prose in another post here. In these cases is when the proudest I am of my native language; like everyone is, through the value of its favourite and best writers, surely.

El Ángel

Que el hombre no sea indigno del Ángel
cuya espada lo guarda
desde que lo engendró aquel Amor
que mueve el sol y las estrellas
hasta el último día en que retumbe
el trueno de la trompeta.
Que no lo arrastre a rojos lupanares
ni a los palacios que erigió la soberbia
ni a las tabernas insensatas.
Que no se rebaje a la súplica
ni al oprobio del llanto
ni a la fabulosa esperanza
ni a las pequeñas magias del miedo
ni al simulacro del histrión;
el Otro lo mira.
Que recuerde que nunca estará solo.
En el público día o en la sombra
el incesante espejo lo atestigua;
que no macule su cristal una lágrima.

Señor, que al cabo de mis días en la Tierra
yo no deshonre al Ángel.

J.L. Borges, El Ángel (from La cifra, book translated to english as "The Limit" and/or "The Cypher").

Definitively flowrishing

Once before slightly flowrishing, right now definitively flowrishing. :-)
Trying to get some smoke and lighting effect took forward the good old fractal infinity shape, with GA's. Might look less humanized without the (badly that time) simulated brushstrokes, but now, looks more natural and attractive, to my eye.

Abstract Nº4

:-) I'm relying on abstract images. Sometimes I know the day will be too busy to post anything of value.
This time it took some pastel colours that I liked, so I saved it because of that.

Abstract Nº 3

I'll fill up space with some other abstract today. I remember some time ago, when created, I called this one "Chirico", like the painter, but it is absolutely preposterous. Will never remember why I named it that way before, well, it is Abstract Nº 3.
Pure interactive genetic algorithms work, as always, that includes everything, the wavy effect also, of course. :-)

Worm in the door threshold

Two years ago, one article about children in Malawi, supposedly signed by Pilirani Semu-Banda, (and that I strongly suspected it was a hoax), was the trigger for this crooked image. Anyway, child prostitution is so common around the world, around my country and town; don't know how to forget, nor how to take this anymore.

This is the site of the ECPAT, they relies on donations to continue their work.

O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

William Blake, "The Sick Rose" (Songs of Innocence and Experience).

Breathing the last afternoon

This is not an uncommon image for interactive genetic algorithms. And not an uncommon fear.

Outside
Gets inside
Through her skin.
I've been out before
But this time it's much safer in.

Last night in the sky,
Such a bright light.
My radar send me danger
But my instincts tell me to keep

Breathing,
[out, in, out, in, out, in...]

We've lost our chance.
Were the first and the last, ooh,
After the blast.
Chips of plutonium
Are twinkling in every lung.

I love my beloved, ooh,
All and everywhere,
Only the fools blew it.
You and me knew life itself is

Breathing,
[out, in, out, in, out...]
Breathing my mother in,
Breathing my beloved in,
Breathing her nicotine,
Breathing the fall-out in,
Out in, out in, out in, out in,
Out in, out in, out in, out...
[out!]

In point of fact it is possible to tell the
[out!]
difference between a small nuclear explosion and a large one by a very simple method. the calling card of a nuclear bomb is the blinding flash that is far more dazzling than any light on earth--brighter even than the sun itself--and it is by the duration of this flash that we are able to determine the size...
[what are we going to do without?]
...of the weapon. after the flash a fireball can be seen to rise, sucking up under it the debris, dust and living things around the area of the explosion, and as this ascends, it soon becomes recognisable as the familiar mushroom cloud. as a demonstration of the flash duration test lets try and count the number of seconds for the flash emitted by a very small bomb; then a more substantial, medium-sized bomb; and finally, one of our very powerful, high-yield bombs.

What are we going to do without?
Ooh please!
What are we going to do without?
Let me breathe!
What are we going to do without?
Ooh, quick!
We are all going to die without!
Breathe in deep!
What are we going to die without?
Leave me something to breathe!
We are all going to die without!
Oh, leave me something to breathe!
What are we going to do without?
Oh, god, please leave us something to breathe!
We are all going to die without
Oh, life isss ...breathing.

Kate Bush, "Breathing".

Mass graves

In 2004, the investigation for the murder of the Juan Gelman's dauther-in-law (María Claudia García) lead to the nº13 uruguayan infantry batallion. They found mass graves in the "300 Carlos" torture centre, inside the military unit...

- Mephistopheles:
[...]
How men torment themselves, is all that I have noted.
The little god o’ the world sticks to the same old way,
And is as whimsical as on Creation’s day.
Life somewhat better might content him,
But for the gleam of heavenly light which Thou has lent him;
He calls it Reason--thence his power’s increased,
To be far beastlier than any beast.
[...]

J.W.v. Goethe, "Faust".


You can call this, with my shame, an impressionist work, "Mass graves", a work in progress which became unfinished when losing by mistake my genetic algorithms directory of "genotypes"; unfinished, like our justice about crimes against humanity here, on the river plate zone too.

Abstract Nº2

Naah, :-) short time right now, I'll add another abstract... I'm too lazy. :-)
I was trying to emulate something similar to plastic and kept this one, just to fill space.
The image was created through interactive genetic algorithms, like always.

bacteria petals

Again with the Héroes del Silencio band; again I don't know what I have with them, may be I love them and don't know yet. :-)
The image is "bacteria petals", all IGA work as always, and the song is "Virus"; do not trust my translation too much, but how great song it is, so insightful and tormented.
Original lyrics in spanish are here.

Like a virus that spreads itself
and infects from tumor to sigh,
like a fungus, it grows without my permission,
and unarmed, I let it poison me.

and I, sculpted in ashes, watching the hurrican to arrive
that will be dissolving the mineral of the soul.
Like a moonbeam over the seas,
it passes through the abyss of my miseries, like being true
that my weakness can feed it and strengthen it.

Like a virus that spreads itself
and infects from tumor to sigh.

As it does not give me truce, I thought about mutilating myself,
infected entrails fermented the meat,
titanic microbes;
like in a conspiracy,
no sacrifice will be enough.

Héroes del Silencio, "Virus".

Christ, what a pair of lines to end it... this simple image and lyrics are dedicated again to one beautiful nameless face; sometimes I'm so afflicted.
And I wanted blue bacteria (masculine) or petals (feminine, in a classic way), I looked for specific blue ones, reminding the blue flower from Novalis. Yes, that is a good one, for the moment... good moment for reminding that flower now...

I cant even express the strange state I'm in. Sometimes rapt in delight... but when I forget about the blue flower, a nameless longing takes possession of me, no one can understand this. I'd think I was mad, if it were not for the fact that my thoughts are so clear and connected, and I understand so many new things. I've heard it said that in the olden days, animals, rocks, and flowers all spoke to humans. I'm haunted by the idea that they have something to tell me, and I feel as if I could comprehend their speech.

Novalis, from the "Heinrich von Osterdingen" novel.

Uraeus vitreaux

The Uraeus, or raging cobra, is one symbol of the feminine creative force; it has a talisman that anyone can see carved in the forehead of deities of the ancient egypt. It stands for a meaning of royal spirit (or divine authority), wisdom and healing. The uraeus hieroglyphic is the sign of the goddess in pagan beliefs. Pharaohs wear it as a head ornament, and was part of the crown.
The eyes of Re are said to be Uraei, or plural for raging cobras.

I was working on emulated glass effects through interactive genetic algorithms, trying to find something opposite to the fragility of crystal, so one uraeus looked perfect, just to give it balance; femininity (in the most classic way, ok?) in the vitraux effect fragility and cold colours, and masculinity not anywhere. :-)

It is a work dedicated in return to Amber, who made the dedication first, I think you know, friend, what all this symbols are about. Just now I find the time to write and publish.





I also have this another version in warm colours palette, more "masculine" colours in the same classic sense, to give it better balance; and it was difficult to choose the first version between them:




Also this one in cold and warm colours:




Also this wallpaper version:




Also this metallic wallpaper twilight version:




All in 1280x960 downloadables.
Cheers.

Slightly flowrishing

Greets.

Yet another debt to fractal artists, I started there maaany years ago, and left fast. This one looks like a very old, historical, fractal infinity shape; but look, the reproduction or fiction of the antique fractal figure through genetic algorithms gives you some freedom to emulate some hand made brush strokes (although not perfectly in this one), injecting some humanity to the math function, aside from the normal human work. :-)

Although this one should be a numbered Abstract too, the actual title come out from one e-mail conversation, and the image reminded me that one, so...

Cheers.