Irregular Sticks is a computational painting system employing rapid instantiation of several self-similar graphic objects. CLICK and HOLD the mouse button to create an arbitrary path of irregular sticks. The longer the mouse button is held down, the larger the resulting instantiation. No control over the direction of travel is provided (but this makes it fun). REFRESH the page to start with a new canvas. The goal of this particular algorithm was to recreate the painterly effects sometimes achieved when laying down layer after layer of thick paint. To achieve this effect, multiple irregular stick graphics are laid down on top of each other. The sticks towards the bottom are made wider. Slight rotations are occasionally added to give the system further irregularity. Colors were taken from a photograph of rusted desert metal.   figure a. computational painting (detail)     Irregular Sticks was originally inspired by a large oil painting hung on the wall of Little City, a downtown Austin merchant of magical fruit (the coffee bean). The artist's name is unknown.           jtarbell, march 2003