Pretty+Peacocks

__Pretty Peacocks Tessellation Essay__ By: Alyson The tessellation that I chose was a translation. You can see that it's a translation because it doesn't move or change when it goes up or down or side to side. When I cut the sides of the cards, and looked at it, after much deliberation, I saw a peacock. After placing them on the grid, I colored them, and on their tail feathers, I put a pattern of blue to green or green to blue “eyes”. It makes them symmetrical, but makes them feel like an individual. When my translation was done, I had a bunch of stuck-up looking peacocks roaming around the sheet of my paper. I chose the translation because I thought it was the best suitable for my peacocks, and because I know I get stressed out too easily, so I chose the easiest in my opinion. First, I got a small paper to act as a template. Then, I drew a random line that went from the top left corner, to the top right corner, and another random line that went from the top right hand corner, to the bottom right hand corner. I then cut the lines out and moved the top cut-out to the bottom, and the right side cut-out to the left side. I taped them and analyzed the template to figure out it looked like a peacock. Then, I traced the template onto the sheet on which I had made grid lines and made multiple peacocks. Once I was done, I erased the grid lines and colored in the peacocks. When I first made the template, I was unsure on what it looked like. At first, it could have been a tree or a lightning bolt. I didn't think I liked those choices, so I made another template. It turned out to look like a flower which I would have made into a rose. As I contemplated, I looked at the tree/lightning bolt again and saw a peacock. So I traced them onto the sheet of paper and they stayed the same while moving up and down and side to side. Their feathers have “eyes” on them, and some are blue and some are green to match the prettiness of a real peacock. My tessellation project has geometry in it because every peacock fits together and stays the same like a puzzle. Shapes are important to geometry and my project is full of them! The peacocks are all symmetrical in shape, but the colors change on their “eyes” from blue to green. If you follow them diagonally, then they are symmetrical in color as well as shape. The peacocks all have yellow beaks, blue bodies, and green/blue/pink feathers on their tails. They all have feminine eyes, half circles for wings, half circles for bodies, and little lines for twig-like legs, showing, yet again, the symmetry in the shapes. In conclusion, my “Pretty Peacocks” is a translation made by a sheet of paper with grid lines drawn on them, and a small template. I really didn’t know what to do with my picture until I looked at it at a certain angle, and saw a peacock. Shapes and symmetry are important in geometry and my tessellation has a lot. My peacocks are symmetrical in shape and color but their “eyes” are different to help them feel unique and individual. As I have been told before, art is math, and my math is definitely art!