About the Small Programs Project
The Small Programs are digital drawings that I program instead of using traditional artist's media. I happen to develop the images programmatically, but the algorithmic aspect is subordinate to the design. This project, one in a series of Grid projects, evolved from my Permutation Grids project.

The drawings relate to plane symmetry or wallpaper groups, but they differ in ways that disqualify them from the mathematical form. The primitive cell in each of these patterns is generated by a small program. I have replaced the normally static cell with a small program which randomly varies the resulting unit pattern. The patterns are isosceles trapezoids arranged radially in tracks around a center point, forming a polar grid.

I explore small programs in somewhat the same way I would use traditional media. I have a general idea of the result I am attempting to achieve before I start coding. I work through various challenges during the process. I selectively discard or keep elements as I approach the final rendering.