Gwen Fisher
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gwenbeads.bsky.social
Gwen Fisher
@gwenbeads.bsky.social
670 followers 380 following 230 posts
I teach math and make art.
Ph.D. Mathematics Education
beads, fabric, paint, pencils
Etsy: https://gwenbeads.etsy.com
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gwenbeads.bsky.social
Another tiny landscape in colored pencil. I found it a little surprising how much black and other dark colors I used in this piece. It seems the light becomes more noticeable when it’s surrounded by darkness. #art
Landscape drawing in colored pencil
November 21, 2025 at 6:50 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
Last night, I opened my big box of colored pencils, Faber-Castel Polychromos, to color this little landscape. At just over 2”, it might be bigger on your phone than it is in real life. I’m trying to get myself psyched up to start painting again.
Colorful landscape with flowers on a grassy field and a tree.
November 19, 2025 at 7:00 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
The lemons from my tree are pretty stoked about the recent rain.
Photo of two lemons that have burst open from excess water. The burst openings are crescent shaped like a smile. I added two cloves to each lemon to look like eyes on their smiling faces.
October 17, 2025 at 8:24 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
A little color therapy always helps. It’s been a while since I played with my seed beads, but I thought I’d thread a needle and make some of my old favorite designs, like these Victory Pod Earrings in purple and gold.

Happy Sunday!
Pair of beaded earrings sitting on a watercolor painted color wheel. The earrings are pod shaped and have rows of seed beads.
October 5, 2025 at 5:38 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
Circular dogs are much easier to draw than dog shaped dogs. This painting exists to prove that you don’t have to know how to draw in order to have fun with paint. #painting
Circles of different sizes, each with a simple cartoon dog face. The circles appear to be in different layers and in different orientations.
September 10, 2025 at 11:10 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
I wish someone would make a captcha with Donald’s signatures.
“marco.foster • 1h Does anyone actually believe Donald Trump didn't sign that letter to Jeffrey Epstein? The fact they are so desperately trying to deny the obvious is just more evidence that he is completely guilty of it all” Below is an array of 9 versions of Donald’s signature that are all virtually identical, including the one on the Epstein birthday card in which Donald alludes to raping children.
September 10, 2025 at 4:55 AM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
“Infinite Holes
and the Cosmic Goo”

10 inch square

I was delighted to learn that this #watercolor and pigment ink #painting won Best Photograph, Painting, or Print at the MAA Mathfest Art Exhibit 2025.

#mathart 
Available
Orange goo containing plankton floats over and into the fractal surface of infinite holes. The surface is based upon an Apollonian gasket.
August 15, 2025 at 6:46 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
This #colorwheel was a tiny #painting, in #watercolor on cotton paper. It was a study, and I’m glad I photographed it before because I screwed up after this and ruined it. Fortunately, we have this photo. May your week be filled with tiny successes. Don’t forget to appreciate them.
Painting of an array of squares cut into triangles. Each triangle is a different color of the rainbow. The background is black with a grey frame.
August 4, 2025 at 5:42 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
I call this little piece “Among the Bubbles.” I wish we all had a little firmer ground to stand on. It seems that the people are a bit isolated these days.
Ink and #watercolor on Tomoe River paper
#painting #doodle

gwenbeads.etsy.com/listing/4340...
Abstract surreal black ink doodle with some watercolor. Lots of ovals and dots and swirls. A little alien with big eyes, long legs and antennas stands atop one of the bubbles and looks blankly at the viewer.
July 23, 2025 at 5:11 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
Finally got in a little doodling this week with ink and #watercolor. I call this little piece “Floating” because I feel a bit like I’m floating from one day to the next. It seems that the little aliens are having a hard time connecting lately.

gwenbeads.etsy.com/listing/4339...
Doodle painting with circles and network graphs floating in space. A cat and a few aliens stand on the cicles. Three little alienes are broadcasting dots from their antennas but the dots fall off the edges and don’t connect.
July 22, 2025 at 5:48 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
And I thought my dog Kepler had a tenuous relationship with gravity! Bruno wins.
Yellow lab with face smashed against pillow.
July 18, 2025 at 1:06 AM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
These pants had 4 big holes when I woke up yesterday. I was ready to toss them, but he wanted to keep them. So I skimmed a book “Mending Matters” by Katerina Rodabaugh, I drempt about mending. When I woke up, I mended them. Now they have no big holes, and I have sore fingers. #sewing #visiblemending
Photo of old jeans lying flat on carpet. The jeans are mended with various techniques including inside patching, outside patching and sashiko.
July 17, 2025 at 6:14 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
That sweater is beautiful. Perfect blend. Here’s the #rainbow coat. It’s sized for a tall man.
Two photo of a rainbow striped faux fur coat with hood and lapels, hanging on a dress form
June 17, 2025 at 8:10 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
Thank you. I’m having fun trying to make each one a little different. He’s the first one. Wig or hat? It’s hard to say. It has a lining. So I think it’s a hat.
Faux fur hat the looks like a wig, three views.
June 17, 2025 at 7:09 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
I recently finished a commission for a faux fur coat made with rainbow faux fur. I was left with a half yard remnant and a big pile of scraps, so I’m making hats. Every time I put one on, I feel like I’m wearing a birthday cake on my head. Eventually, I’ll have a small sale of big rainbow hats. 🌈
Faux fur hat on a wooden head. Four views of a faux fur hat on a wooden head. Faux fur hat on a wooden head. Four views of a faux fur hat on a wooden head.
June 17, 2025 at 7:01 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
We stood in front of a random car dealership, and it was packed. There aren’t normally many people on this strip of sidewalk. After, we went to a park in Palo Alto, and there were thousands of protestors there.
Protestors standing in a park holding signs and American flags. One sign says “No Kings. Not a paid protester. I hate him for free.” A shirt says “Woke: it’s not the insult you think it is.”
June 15, 2025 at 2:24 AM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
No Kings! There was 7 miles of peaceful protesting on El Camino from Sunnyvale to Mountain View to Palo Alto, CA. We picked a block that wasn’t going to have a lot of people on it. If the density was this thick for the whole 7 miles, and I heard it was, then there were over 10,000 people there.
June 15, 2025 at 2:02 AM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
No kings!

www.mobilize.us/nokings/
Two painted posters. One says “No Kings” with a crown that has been crossed out. The second day “No Faux King Way.”
June 14, 2025 at 6:02 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
Just had an amazing session with a student finishing 7th grade on the difference of squares formula. We discussed examples, conjectures, generalizations and proofs. Here is my record of our conversation. She did the last two proofs without my help. #math #mathed
Introduction to notice that 5x7 =35 and 6^2=36. Conjecture that 54x52=53^2-1. Generalize: (x-1)(x+1)=x^2-1. Proof using areas of rectangles and squares Notice 8x12=10^2-1. Identity versus relation. Conjectured (x-2)(x+2)=x^2-4. Proof using areas of rectangles and squares. Question: (x-3)(x+3)=? Conjecture (x-3)(x+3)=x^2-9. Proof using areas. Generalize: (x-y)(x+y)=x^2-y^2 Example with x =10, y=8. Proof with areas of rectangles and squares.
May 26, 2025 at 6:52 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
Just finished sewing this man’s cotton t-shirt, entirely hand sewn with 100% cotton jersey, acrylic paint, and heavy weight polyester and cotton threads. The blue and olive paints are metallic and are more subtle in real life.
Mosaic of 6 photos of a black t-shirt with close ups of the appliqué details. The front of the shirt has a graphic robot design with one eye and three wheels. Other details include appliqué satellite dishes and decorative sewing on the neckline and hem.
May 22, 2025 at 9:25 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
Basic #Math
Base ten blocks on graph paper with grouping of 8 tens with 6 ones, and 4 tens with 7 ones.
May 21, 2025 at 9:58 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
Is it really Black Hole Week?
Yes, it really is!
Well then, happy Black Hole Week to all who celebrate!!!!
#BlackHoleWeek
Two colored line drawings of cartoonish black holes. Each has a legend that explains the details.
May 2, 2025 at 6:19 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
I made a dent in my fabric collection this week. I altered my pants pattern to be baggier so I can better stretch and move in them. I also made them shorter and with a cuffed hem. The hems fall lower mid calf, well above the ankle. Button fly. Four pockets. Light weight, whimsy. #sewing
Three photos of patchy purple pants: front back and close up of button fly
April 29, 2025 at 4:48 PM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
The joy of tiny art: This Conway beaded bead has 270 itty bitty beads all stitched into a hollow dodecahedron with a delightful touch of squish. This version has two colors of size 15/0s and one color of demi 11/0, but the pattern works in 11/0 or in 8/0. #mathart
gwenbeads.etsy.com/listing/1890...
Photo of a symmetric beaded bead woven with three colors of seed beads, sitting on a dime.
April 11, 2025 at 1:55 AM
gwenbeads.bsky.social
I sewed this t-shirt to look like a circuit board. I didn’t have enough fabric to cut it in whole pieces. When they make circuit boards, they make a whole panel of them at once connected together with lines of perforation so they can later be snapped apart into separate pieces. Hence, the shoulder.
Photo of a t-shirt embroidered with a circuit design. The shoulder has a section added that looks like it’s a separate board that has been snapped apart along a line of perforation. The shirt is covered in gold circles that are appliquéd onto the shirt. The circles are connected with lines of couching, couched strips of fabric. Everything is hand sewn. The neck line and all hems are finished with the same double line appliqué stitch treatment. Detail of shirt shoulder.
April 8, 2025 at 5:30 PM