Shadows Creating The Illusion of Depth

I particularly enjoyed the fishpond mosaics with 3D trompe-l’oeil effects by Gary Drostle. Gary is a UK award winning artist specializing in murals and mosaics. He made a series of fishpond floor mosaics with golden fish, the shadow of which creates the illusion of depth. The circular concentric ripples even boost the 3D depth effect of the compositions. I love the simplicity and ingenuity of these stunning pieces of art!

3D Mosaic fishpond

3D Mosaic fishpond 2

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Would you dare run on it?

This wavy floor is actually a mind-boggling optical illusion that discourages people from running down the hallway (in fact, the floor is a completely flat surface!).

Manchester firm Casa Ceramica used a neat combination of black and white tiles to make the floor along the hallway look as though it is uneven making the tiles appear to slope away into a dip.

floor illusion 2

The illusion only works in one direction, so you will be perfectly safe on the way out.

floor illusion

The making of the floor.

Many visual illusions have already been used to try and slow down traffic like this 3D-painted zebra crossing trialed in Iceland that provides an illusory effect of white blocks floating over the road.

zebra-cross illusion

 

Move Away From the Past You Need to Leave Behind

leave the past

Two Zen monks noticed, at the edge of the river, a beautiful young maiden sat weeping because she was afraid to cross the river alone. She begged them to help her. The younger monk turned his back. The members of their order were forbidden to touch a woman.

The older monk picked up the girl without a word and carried her across the river. He put her down on the far side and continued his journey. The younger monk came after him, scolding him and berating him for breaking his vows. “As monks, we are not permitted a woman, how could you then carry that girl on your shoulders?” He went on and on like this for a very long time. The elder monk didn’t say a word.

Finally, the elder monk, exasperated, turned to the younger one. “I let her go as soon as we crossed the river. Why are you still carrying her?

How often do we carry around past hurts, holding onto resentments when the only person we are really hurting is ourselves.

Emerson’s Secret

When Crayola‘s senior designer Emerson Moser retired in 1990—after 37 glorious years of loyal service—he finally confessed to a little secret: he was color vision deficient! Moser went on to produce a record 1.4 billion crayons during his career…
While any type of color vision deficiency (color blindness) could make crayon production difficult, complete color vision deficiency, where someone can only see in shades of gray, is extremely rare. About 99% of color vision deficiency involves just the inability to distinguish between some pairs of complementary colors.
So, if you’re wondering about your own color vision, feel free to take the test on my website.

crayola crayons

TangraMagic Puzzle

Tangramagic puzzle

TangraMagic, a new manipulative puzzle for classrooms or just for fun..

This unique puzzle of my creation  is ideal for teaching math basic skills, problem solving and critical thinking in an exciting way! The vanishing geometrical effects will hold juniors and seniors’ attention. All the secret of this game is concealed in two numbers: 5 and square root of 7.
Tangramagic puzzle 2

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What color does it look to you?

1 in 12 people have some sort of color blindness that makes them unable to distinguish certain colors or shades of colors from others. Color blindness is, however, an inaccurate term to describe a lack of perceptual sensitivity to certain colors; a more precise term is: Color Vision Deficiency (CVD). Color blindness is the most commonly used term though it is misleading if taken literally, because colorblind people CAN see colors, albeit they cannot make out the difference between some couples of complementary colors. Color vision deficiency is not related to visual acuity at all and is most commonly due to an inherited condition. Red/Green color vision deficiency is by far the most common form, about 99%, and causes problems in distinguishing reds and greens. There is no treatment for color vision deficiency, nor is it usually the cause of any significant disability.

The most commonly used test to detect color vision deficiencies is the Ishihara Color Test.

Color vision deficient people have a tendency to better night vision and, in some situations, they can perceive variations in luminosity that color-sighted people could not. In fact, most color blind people can easily read what is written in the dotted pattern below… If you fail the test, that means you probably have the full range of color sensitivity that is attributed to color-sighted people.
[Highlight the blank space to see the answer: NO]

Reverse Ishihara Color Test

The visual art of concealing

In my book “Hidden Picture Puzzles“, I treat of hidden things in plain sight.

Steganography” is the art and science of hiding a secret message within a larger one, in such a way that no one suspects its presence. The old Swiss banknotes offer some interesting examples of steganography. In the picture below you can see the back of a Swiss ten-franc bill. The small part surrounded by the blue square contains a microtext, if we strongly enlarge it we may read a short bio of the Swiss architect Le Corbusier both in German and in Romansch:

Le Corbusier hat als Architekt Urbanist maler und Theoretiker Bahnbrechende und Visionäre Anwendungen für den Wohn- und Städtebau verwirklicht…

Swiss bill