2025 Aug Plein Air Magazine Ad
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- 2025 Aug Plein Air Magazine Ad
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2025 Aug Plein Air Magazine Ad
Workshop Overview
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- Workshop Overview
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2025 Aug 24. Workshop on Composition and Armatures: Focus-Trees.
2024 Nov 10.Workshop on Composition and Armatures PART II. .
2023 Workshop on Composition and Armatures
Karen has a background teaching introductory math to liberal arts students. After leaving the academic world and a career in computers in Manhattan she moved to Santa Fe and has been a practicing artist for over 20 years. When the long-standing Canyon Road Gallery representing her closed two years ago, Karen began to devote herself to research in areas where Mathematics touches Art. She is currently represented by the Karen Wray Fine Art Gallery in Los Alamos.
* "Radical" is a play on words; it's the term Mathematicians use for 'root'; eg, square root. But in addition, radicals play a part in armatures.
Workshop Overview
2025 Weekend with Halbert and Handell at the Bluebird Studio Santa Fe. Aug 23-24
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- 2025 Weekend with Halbert and Handell at the Bluebird Studio Santa Fe. Aug 23-24
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Aug 23-24. Focus: TREES.and the Dynamic Symmetry of Growth. For more information and to register: https://www.bluebirdstudiosantafe.com/2025-pop-up-art-classes. This workshop was held at the Bluebird Studios in Santa Fe Aug 24, 2025. Karen Halbert and internationally known, master artist, Albert Handel, joined forces to provide the workshop. His intuitive composition skills were juxtaposed in this presentation with Dynamic Symmetry for a unique approach combining intuition and analysis. The approach was demonstrated through the lens of dynamic symmetry with iconic, historic paintings along with Handell’s work. In addition, hands-on guidance in the Dynamic Symmetry tool were provided. Add a Dynamic Symmetry tool to your repertoire of painting tools: fast track your goal of good design and composition.
2025 Weekend with Halbert and Handell at the Bluebird Studio Santa Fe. Aug 23-24
2024 Weekend with Handell and Halbert
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- 2024 Weekend with Handell and Halbert
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2024 Weekend with Handell and Halbert
2023 Bluebird Popup 1-day Workshop Composition and Armatures
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- 2023 Bluebird Popup 1-day Workshop Composition and Armatures
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2023 Workshop on Composition and Armatures
More Information: Visit the Exhibits’ tab on this site.
The link to the "Flipping Book" view of this 2023 workshop is no longer available. For information about future workshops please send an email to karen dot halbert at gmail.com
From the Classical Greek Era to the present, artists have been using armature or grid systems based on musical and mathematical principles to help create harmonious paintings, including Dynamic Symmetry Grids, Harmonic Armatures and Golden Fibonacci Spirals or Whirling Squares. The armatures form a scaffolding for paintings, providing stability and a road map for the design.
Participants will learn how to use armatures to design their paintings or to evaluate existing paintings. Examples of artwork will be analyzed - participants' and Master Artist paintings.
* "Radical" is a play on words; it's the term Mathematicians use for 'root'; eg, square root. But in addition, radicals play a part in armatures.
2023 Bluebird Popup 1-day Workshop Composition and Armatures
Dynamic Symmetry Armature Construction
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- Dynamic Symmetry Armature Construction
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CLICK ON HIGH RESOLUTION BUTTON BELOW TO SEE ALL CONSTRUCTION STEPS (5 seconds apart). Step 1. Baroque Diagonal –Lower Left Corner to Upper Right corner (blue). Orange Reciprocal Line from lower right corner (perpendicular to the diagonal at right angles- 90 degrees). Step 2. 2nd orange reciprocal - from upper left corner through the Baroque Diagaonal at 90 degrees. Steps 3 and 4. . Sinister Diagonal – Upper left Corner to lower right corner (blue).Two Reciprocal Lines (orange) perpendicular to the main diagonals at right angles from the other corners. Image 4. All together. 2 main blue diagooals with 4 orange reciprocal (crossing) lines through them.. Image 5. BW. 3 by 4 dynamic symmetry armature.
Dynamic Symmetry Armature Construction
Karen Halbert, Abiquiu Cliffs Abstraction - Dynamic Symmetry
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- Karen Halbert, Abiquiu Cliffs Abstraction - Dynamic Symmetry
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- 10x16
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SELECT HIGH RESOLUTION BUTTON BELOW TO SEE DYNAMIC SYMMETRY CONSTRUCTION STEPS. ON THE PAINTING. (5 seconds between images). The painting won an award for Plein Air Painting with an Unusual Point of View in the 2025 17th Annual Plein Air Painters of NM Juried Members' Show., The judge, Qiang Huang, stated: "This painting is unique. The asymmetric color shapes are on top of a symmetric geometric pattern, showing a mathematical beauty."
