Bridget Riley for beginners (and for the slightly advanced)

Ever since I saw it somewhere as a girl, I have been very fascinated with the work of british artist
Bridget Riley. Born in 1931 in London, she had her breakthrough as one of most important artists
of the swinging London experimental modern era - and I think the phrase 'op art' (= optical art) was
coined about her work.

She is particularly famous for her large black/white canvases, that almost make you dizzy!
She is 80 now, and - as far as I can find out - still active.

From above:
portrait / Movement in squares, 1961 / Intake, probably sixties as well / more recent installation

I find her work compelling in so many ways. It is visually stunning, but can be almost physically
disturbing to look at. As sheer work(wo)manship it is impressive: I think about her, constructing
these lines and patterns without as much as a cheap, chinese calculator to help her. Or without all
the clever tools in Illustrator!


So: I wanted to make a simple black and white heart that had just a tiny bit of that 3D-effect,
and have been doing quite a bit of weaving about, and not too successfully!

The first template I made, was so devilishly hard to actually make, that I almost gave up.
But not quite. I actually sort of finished it.
And even though I sort of f***ed it up, I actually kept it, but not to hang on a string, or so.

It is, pathetically enough, repaired with tape on the back - but it got just the right kind of
Bridget-like effect - so I framed the darn thing (Bridget would have trashed it, of course).

Here it is......

So, I could not give you a template, that was so tricky to weave - or could I?
I did a bit of both. I made you two much easier ones, and then I put the challenge on page 3.
Maybe you should trace that one onto shiny, thin paper ('glanspapir') before you try.
Or maybe you have more nimble fingers than me....

Download them all here!

2021: I have a new location for my downloads: please go here: (A) + (B) + (C)