(click for a larger, unmodified image)

1. This tessellation is difficult to analyze, so it is only with a bit of intuition that we outline the square shape shown above. Doing so connects a point at which the heads of two white lizards meet, a point at which four front legs meet, a point at which the heads of two black lizards meet, and a point at which four hind legs meet.

2. The tessellation seems to use many, many rotations. For example, the lizard shape can be found facing either up, down, left, or right. Perhaps these rotations apply to individual sides. We outline part of the lizard shape in the square we have already drawn. We find that there are two distinct types of sides. One type forms the head and neck of a lizard and, at the same time, the right side of an adjacent lizard. The other type forms the left side of a lizard and, at the same time, forms the back and hind legs of an adjacent lizard. But since a single lizard has both a head and neck and a right side, and both a left side and a back and hind legs, these sides must somehow be repeated on the same lizard. And, in fact, they are repeated, as the following animation will illustrate.

Print out an example on the hands-on activities page and use the techniques described above to create your own tessellation based on this example of Escher's artwork. Remember to pick the activity referencing page 12/12.

All M. C. Escher works (c) Cordon Art B.V.-Baarn-the Netherlands. Modifications for demonstration purposes only. Used with permission.

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