Arosh is a young artist, violinist and pianist from Scotland with a deep interest in Maths. See his drawings and paintings, hear his recordings, read his notes.https://www.arosh.name/en-GBhttps://www.arosh.name/maths/factorising-quadratic-equations/https://www.arosh.name/maths/factorising-quadratic-equations/How to factorise a quadratic when the leading coefficient is 1, how the AC method handles the case when it is not, and a short proof of why splitting the middle term always works.Mon, 03 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTMathematicsalgebraquadraticsfactorisinghttps://www.arosh.name/maths/trachtenberg-speed-method/https://www.arosh.name/maths/trachtenberg-speed-method/Multiplying by 11 and 12 in your head using Trachtenberg's rules — and the place-value argument that shows exactly why the rules work.Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTMathematicsarithmeticmental Mathsplace valuehttps://www.arosh.name/music/chopin-nocturne-op9-no2/https://www.arosh.name/music/chopin-nocturne-op9-no2/Chopin published the Op. 9 nocturnes in 1832, when he was twenty-one. The second is the one everybody knows: a single long melody over a rocking left hand, coming back three times, each time more decorated than the last.Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTMusicpianoFrédéric Chopinhttps://www.arosh.name/music/bach-partita-no3-preludio/https://www.arosh.name/music/bach-partita-no3-preludio/The Preludio is unbroken semiquavers from the first bar to the last, with no rest anywhere for the right arm. Bach thought well enough of it to reuse the whole movement twice more, once with a full orchestra behind it.Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTMusicviolinJohann Sebastian Bachhttps://www.arosh.name/artwork/spider-man-pose/https://www.arosh.name/artwork/spider-man-pose/A crouch, weight on one hand, the other arm cocked back — the pose Spider-Man lands in. Drawn from below, so the near knee comes towards the viewer and gets much larger than it has any right to be.Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTArtworkdrawinginkfigurefan arthttps://www.arosh.name/artwork/city-in-rain/https://www.arosh.name/artwork/city-in-rain/Wet-into-wet for the whole upper half, then left alone entirely until dry — the reflections on the pavement are what the paper did on its own, not what was painted.Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTArtworkpaintingwatercolourcityscapehttps://www.arosh.name/music/kreutzer-etude-no2/https://www.arosh.name/music/kreutzer-etude-no2/Kreutzer's forty-two studies have been the standard technical diet for violinists for two hundred years, and the second is the one every student meets first: an even run of notes that exists purely so the bow can be practised on it.Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTMusicviolinRodolphe Kreutzerhttps://www.arosh.name/artwork/still-life-with-lamp/https://www.arosh.name/artwork/still-life-with-lamp/A study of the lamp on the corner of the desk, drawn over three evenings. The interest here is the fall-off: the lamp throws a hard edge across the books immediately beneath it and then almost nothing beyond, so most of the paper is left doing quiet work in the mid-greys.Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTArtworkdrawinggraphitestill lifehttps://www.arosh.name/artwork/harbour-at-dusk/https://www.arosh.name/artwork/harbour-at-dusk/Painted from sketches made on the quay in late summer, when the sky sits lower than the water and the masts read as dark verticals against it. The whole board was toned a warm grey first, which is still visible through the thinner passages in the sky.Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTArtworkpaintingacryliclandscapehttps://www.arosh.name/artwork/study-of-hands/https://www.arosh.name/artwork/study-of-hands/Six studies on one sheet, most of them of a bow hold — which is a convenient subject when you spend an hour a day looking at your own right hand anyway.Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMTArtworkdrawinggraphitestudyhttps://www.arosh.name/artwork/portrait-in-graphite/https://www.arosh.name/artwork/portrait-in-graphite/Drawn on grey paper so that the mid-tone is given rather than made, which leaves graphite to handle the shadows and chalk to handle the light. It is a much faster way to work than starting from white.Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMTArtworkdrawinggraphiteportrait