Seven Birds
©2002 Hollister "Hop" David
At first glance, most see five birds. Can you see six and seven?
The background of this church is the Ajo Federated Church, located in Ajo, Arizona.
I walk past this church every day on my way to work.
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A line drawn from wingtip to wingtip has its middle third cut out by the tailfeathers.
The remaining lines have their middles cut out the same way.
If you were to continue this process for infinity you would get a set of points known as
The Cantor Set, also known as Cantor Dust.
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This design attempts to suggest infinity.
(As finite creatures, can we do any more than suggest infinity?)
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M.C. Escher made several attempts to suggest infinity in a finite area.
Doris Schattschneider describes some of these attempts starting on page 241
of her book "M. C. Escher - Visions of Symmetry"
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Dog Spiral
©1999 Hollister "Hop" David

Another attempt to suggest infinity in a finite area.

I used this design in the shell of a hermit crab in the drawing Crab.

M. C. Escher reported that the hand is able to execute surprisingly minute, controlled movements if the eye could but see. He would use a series of magnifying glasses to do the tiny figures in his Circle Limit series and others.

In Crab I tried Escher's advice. Enhancing my vision with magnifying glasses, I was able to make tinier drawings than I had imagined possible. But still, compared to Escher, my draftsmanship is inept.

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