Project 5: Wallpaper

sketch-wall

var x = 5
var y = 5
var w = 5
var h = 20
var dx = 8

function setup() {
    createCanvas(500, 500);
    background(220);
}

function draw() {
    for (hirow = 0; hirow < 5; hirow += 1) { // higher rows
        x = 5 + hirow*130
        for (hicol = 0; hicol < 5; hicol += 1) { // higher columns
            squiggle();
            y = 5 + hicol*154
        }
    }
    for (lorow = 0; lorow < 5; lorow += 1) { // lower rows
        x = 53 + lorow*130
        for (locol = 0; locol < 5; locol += 1) { // lower columns
            squiggle();
            y = 100 + locol*154
        }
    }
}

function squiggle() { // diamond of arcs w/ ellipses 
    noFill();
    strokeWeight(1);
    stroke(107, 70, 27);
    for (arccount = 0; arccount < 7; arccount += 1) {
        y += 3
        arc(x + arccount*dx, y, w, h, 3*PI/2, PI/2);
        arc(x + arccount*dx, y+h, w, h, -3*PI/2, -PI/2);
        arc(x + arccount*dx, y+2*h, w, h, 3*PI/2, PI/2);
        arc(x + arccount*dx, y+3*h, w, h, -3*PI/2, -PI/2);
    }
    ellipse(x + 7*dx, y+h, 11, 15);
    ellipse(x + 7*dx, y+3*h, 11, 15)
}

For my wallpaper, I drew inspiration from this design circa 1805. I thought the handmade recurring pattern, most likely created through block printing, would be fun to convert to a digital format. While I took the diamond shape from the original design, I opted for a more minimalist approach that didn’t need to align exactly to be visually interesting.