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Hi, I’m David Bailey from Grimsby, England, with a keen interest in recreational mathematics, of a mostly geometrical nature, and more specifically of Escher-like tessellations along with their application to polyhedra. Additionally, I make the occasional foray into 'pure' tiling. This website is thus dedicated to showing my own efforts in this field, along with some other aspects pertaining to the subject, such as various essays on tessellation, where I set my thoughts out, and are designed to be tutorial in form.

The tessellations shown are mostly of what I term as of final, 'finished' examples, designed, drawn and coloured (generally of watercolour) by hand, and not a computer. These are essentially the product of a systematic study, which frequently belies various complexities that of necessity require a thorough approach. Also included are some that are best described as 'studies', of which, for various reasons, I have simply not found the time to complete as finished examples. These are thus simply denoted as ‘study’. Generally, but not always, the 'finished' and 'study' tessellations are accompanied by some explanatory text, whereby the various ‘intricacies’ behind the tessellation are discussed. In addition, each drawings colouration is discussed. The tessellations  are so placed into distinct groupings as according to their motif, i.e. of birds, fishes ... as appropriate, with any further subdivision, due to there being so many examples of a specific motif (primarily of the bird examples) are thus put into arbitrary subcategories for the sake of general order.

At long last, the site was updated and rebuilt 11 September 2009, the first update since November 2005. Previously, the site was somewhat awkward to update (hence the hiatus), but with the advent of Google sites (which I wholeheartedly recommend), updating is now a breeze! So, look forward to much more to come, at regular intervals. 

Correspondence is welcomed. davidbaileynospamplease500@hotmail.com (remove the 'no spam please' text)

All images and text copyright David Bailey 11 September 2009

New (latest additions/revisions first):

28 July 2010: Essay 19 - Pseudo Tessellations - Gaps and Overlaps (a rewriting, revised and retitling of 'Breathing Room' essay)

27 July 2010: Essay 21 - A Plea for Quality. Revised and enlarged 

8 July 2010: Essay 22 - In Defence of Geometric Life-like Tessellations

6 July 2010: The Tessellations of Bruce Bilney. Revised and enlarged 2

1 July 2010: Essay 21 - A Plea for Quality

26 June 2010: The Tessellations of Alain Nicolas. Book review: Parcelles d'infini by Alain Nicolas. Essay 20 - Best in Class

14 June 2010: The Tessellations of John Osborn. Revised and enlarged 1

28 May 2010: Human Figures No. 3 added

26 May 2010: Human Figures - Girl 2 added. Essay 6 - Categories of Difficulty Category 4 'heads', revised and expanded

21 May 2010: The Tessellations of Makoto Nakamura. Revised and enlarged 1

13 May 2010: The Tessellations of John Osborn 

6 May 2010: Essay 19 - Breathing Room

30 April 2010: The Tessellations of Introduction. Revised . Revision of Escher's Periodic Drawings, No. 17 (Eagle)

16 April 2010: The Tessellations of Jinny Beyer. The Tessellations of Andrew Crompton. Essay 18 - The Dilution Effect

3 April 2010: The Tessellations of  Maurits Escher

29 March 2010: Unanswered Escher Questions - a series of questions concerning Escher and his works

11 March 2010: The Tessellations of Bruce Bilney. Revised and enlarged 1

29 January 2010: The Tessellations of Makoto Nakamura.  The Tessellations of Bruce Bilney. A new section, in which I discuss the tessellations of leading artists in the field.