Mobius Strips

This painting started when I found a red picture frame of unknown origin buried in my art room. I love this frame! I had been thinking about trying my hand at painting a Möbius strip for some time. This is probably a result of lingering nightmares from various mathematics classes. In mathematics, a Möbius strip, band, or loop is a surface with only one side when embedded in 3D space.

When I first learned about this type of space, I was fascinated by the way the concept was presented. The instructor told us that if an ant were to crawl the full length of the Möbius strip, the ant would return to its starting point having traversed “both” sides of the paper without ever crossing an edge. I was fascinated! I couldn’t manage the mathematics, but the concept was clear to me. In my painting, I attempted to paint a Möbius strip that might have been made with a piece of paper and tape. With the red frame in mind and knowing that shape and shadow were paramount to capturing the image, I chose the color Payne’s gray. In this Möbius strip, gray is the only pigment used. In my rendition, I think I accurately depicted the right side, but I do need to refine the left. I have found that squinting may help this left side be more representative of an accurate Möbius strip. When I finished the shadowing and shading, I decided this painting needed a touch of red to go with this bright red frame. I thought about a red ribbon across the top, but I decided to grab these two wonky birds who were flying around investigating this intriguing shape. The big-hearted birds added that touch of red and whimsy this painting needed to be complete.

Another stimulus for this painting was a harkening back to my workdays. Not only are my wonky birds big-hearted, but I was lucky enough to work with many big-hearted, intelligent people during the years I supported the Department of Defense. I miss these people and treasure the memories of my experiences with them. My curiosity about shapes and mathematics today likely comes from what I learned from these people as well as from all those awful math classes. Because I worked so hard to understand these technical concepts, I developed a curiosity about the natural world.

As my career progressed, my work life changed when a supervisor took a chance on me and elevated me to a position in management. On my first day in my branch head position, I remember walking into the lab, sitting at my desk, and feeling an overwhelming sensation of fear. I had no idea how to be a branch head. Didn’t they know I couldn’t do this? In a panic, I called my boss’s secretary to request a few minutes of his time. When I was ushered into his office, I told him that I thought my appointment to this new position was a mistake, as I didn’t know what I was doing and didn’t even know how to begin. I was shocked at what happened next. He smiled and he laughed as he said, “You will figure it out. You are going to be great in this job. Just go in and fix all the things you’ve been telling me are wrong with the lab.” I was here because of all my complaining, and now, I had to figure out how to proceed. To make a very long story short, I figured it out with a lot of help from a lot of caring, nurturing people. This was the first and best of many opportunities to support. Thank you so much, Arlo!