Art, patterns and materials

Artists plan a flat design on squares. The area of a design is the number of squares that cover it. A panel that is 6 squares wide and 4 squares tall has 4 rows of 6 squares, so its area is 6 × 4 = 24 square units. We can also split a design into equal parts. If a panel is split into 8 equal parts and 3 parts are blue, then the blue part is 3 out of 8, or 3/8. A pattern repeats shapes or colours in the same order, such as circle, square, triangle, circle, square, triangle. Jewellery makers in ancient Egypt used patterns of bright blue, green, red and gold-coloured pieces. A famous young king, Tutankhamun, was buried with many treasures, and they are now kept in museums. Colours have shades: we can make a colour lighter by pressing gently with a pencil and darker by pressing harder.