How to orient matplotlib ax objects to plot consecutively along a timeseries line (affine_transform, mtransform)?

Question

I am trying to create heatmaps (and scatter plots eventually) for data in a time series. I would like to orient them in a way that shows they are on a linear timeline.

How can I use either matplotlib Affine2D or scipy.ndimage.affine_transform to achieve this? Ideally, I would like to be able to adjust the following angles: (1) The angle of the timeline (i.e. where T = 1, T = 2, and T = 3 are in example 1); and (2) The angle where the heatmap meets the line in (1)

The examples I found are dependent on im = ax.imshow which are not the case for my examples.

from collections import OrderedDict
import pandas as pd
import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Get iris data
X_iris = pd.DataFrame({'sepal_length': {'iris_0': 5.1, 'iris_1': 4.9, 'iris_2': 4.7, 'iris_3': 4.6, 'iris_4': 5.0, 'iris_5': 5.4, 'iris_6': 4.6, 'iris_7': 5.0, 'iris_8': 4.4, 'iris_9': 4.9, 'iris_10': 5.4, 'iris_11': 4.8, 'iris_12': 4.8, 'iris_13': 4.3, 'iris_14': 5.8, 'iris_15': 5.7, 'iris_16': 5.4, 'iris_17': 5.1, 'iris_18': 5.7, 'iris_19': 5.1, 'iris_20': 5.4, 'iris_21': 5.1, 'iris_22': 4.6, 'iris_23': 5.1, 'iris_24': 4.8, 'iris_25': 5.0, 'iris_26': 5.0, 'iris_27': 5.2, 'iris_28': 5.2, 'iris_29': 4.7, 'iris_30': 4.8, 'iris_31': 5.4, 'iris_32': 5.2, 'iris_33': 5.5, 'iris_34': 4.9, 'iris_35': 5.0, 'iris_36': 5.5, 'iris_37': 4.9, 'iris_38': 4.4, 'iris_39': 5.1, 'iris_40': 5.0, 'iris_41': 4.5, 'iris_42': 4.4, 'iris_43': 5.0, 'iris_44': 5.1, 'iris_45': 4.8, 'iris_46': 5.1, 'iris_47': 4.6, 'iris_48': 5.3, 'iris_49': 5.0, 'iris_50': 7.0, 'iris_51': 6.4, 'iris_52': 6.9, 'iris_53': 5.5, 'iris_54': 6.5, 'iris_55': 5.7, 'iris_56': 6.3, 'iris_57': 4.9, 'iris_58': 6.6, 'iris_59': 5.2, 'iris_60': 5.0, 'iris_61': 5.9, 'iris_62': 6.0, 'iris_63': 6.1, 'iris_64': 5.6, 'iris_65': 6.7, 'iris_66': 5.6, 'iris_67': 5.8, 'iris_68': 6.2, 'iris_69': 5.6, 'iris_70': 5.9, 'iris_71': 6.1, 'iris_72': 6.3, 'iris_73': 6.1, 'iris_74': 6.4, 'iris_75': 6.6, 'iris_76': 6.8, 'iris_77': 6.7, 'iris_78': 6.0, 'iris_79': 5.7, 'iris_80': 5.5, 'iris_81': 5.5, 'iris_82': 5.8, 'iris_83': 6.0, 'iris_84': 5.4, 'iris_85': 6.0, 'iris_86': 6.7, 'iris_87': 6.3, 'iris_88': 5.6, 'iris_89': 5.5, 'iris_90': 5.5, 'iris_91': 6.1, 'iris_92': 5.8, 'iris_93': 5.0, 'iris_94': 5.6, 'iris_95': 5.7, 'iris_96': 5.7, 'iris_97': 6.2, 'iris_98': 5.1, 'iris_99': 5.7, 'iris_100': 6.3, 'iris_101': 5.8, 'iris_102': 7.1, 'iris_103': 6.3, 'iris_104': 6.5, 'iris_105': 7.6, 'iris_106': 4.9, 'iris_107': 7.3, 'iris_108': 6.7, 'iris_109': 7.2, 'iris_110': 6.5, 'iris_111': 6.4, 'iris_112': 6.8, 'iris_113': 5.7, 'iris_114': 5.8, 'iris_115': 6.4, 'iris_116': 6.5, 'iris_117': 7.7, 'iris_118': 7.7, 'iris_119': 6.0, 'iris_120': 6.9, 'iris_121': 5.6, 'iris_122': 7.7, 'iris_123': 6.3, 'iris_124': 6.7, 'iris_125': 7.2, 'iris_126': 6.2, 'iris_127': 6.1, 'iris_128': 6.4, 'iris_129': 7.2, 'iris_130': 7.4, 'iris_131': 7.9, 'iris_132': 6.4, 'iris_133': 6.3, 'iris_134': 6.1, 'iris_135': 7.7, 'iris_136': 6.3, 'iris_137': 6.4, 'iris_138': 6.0, 'iris_139': 6.9, 'iris_140': 6.7, 'iris_141': 6.9, 'iris_142': 5.8, 'iris_143': 6.8, 'iris_144': 6.7, 'iris_145': 6.7, 'iris_146': 6.3, 'iris_147': 6.5, 'iris_148': 6.2, 'iris_149': 5.9}, 'sepal_width': {'iris_0': 3.5, 'iris_1': 3.0, 'iris_2': 3.2, 'iris_3': 3.1, 'iris_4': 3.6, 'iris_5': 3.9, 'iris_6': 3.4, 'iris_7': 3.4, 'iris_8': 2.9, 'iris_9': 3.1, 'iris_10': 3.7, 'iris_11': 3.4, 'iris_12': 3.0, 'iris_13': 3.0, 'iris_14': 4.0, 'iris_15': 4.4, 'iris_16': 3.9, 'iris_17': 3.5, 'iris_18': 3.8, 'iris_19': 3.8, 'iris_20': 3.4, 'iris_21': 3.7, 'iris_22': 3.6, 'iris_23': 3.3, 'iris_24': 3.4, 'iris_25': 3.0, 'iris_26': 3.4, 'iris_27': 3.5, 'iris_28': 3.4, 'iris_29': 3.2, 'iris_30': 3.1, 'iris_31': 3.4, 'iris_32': 4.1, 'iris_33': 4.2, 'iris_34': 3.1, 'iris_35': 3.2, 'iris_36': 3.5, 'iris_37': 3.6, 'iris_38': 3.0, 'iris_39': 3.4, 'iris_40': 3.5, 'iris_41': 2.3, 'iris_42': 3.2, 'iris_43': 3.5, 'iris_44': 3.8, 'iris_45': 3.0, 'iris_46': 3.8, 'iris_47': 3.2, 'iris_48': 3.7, 'iris_49': 3.3, 'iris_50': 3.2, 'iris_51': 3.2, 'iris_52': 3.1, 'iris_53': 2.3, 'iris_54': 2.8, 'iris_55': 2.8, 'iris_56': 3.3, 'iris_57': 2.4, 'iris_58': 2.9, 'iris_59': 2.7, 'iris_60': 2.0, 'iris_61': 3.0, 'iris_62': 2.2, 'iris_63': 2.9, 'iris_64': 2.9, 'iris_65': 3.1, 'iris_66': 3.0, 'iris_67': 2.7, 'iris_68': 2.2, 'iris_69': 2.5, 'iris_70': 3.2, 'iris_71': 2.8, 'iris_72': 2.5, 'iris_73': 2.8, 'iris_74': 2.9, 'iris_75': 3.0, 'iris_76': 2.8, 'iris_77': 3.0, 'iris_78': 2.9, 'iris_79': 2.6, 'iris_80': 2.4, 'iris_81': 2.4, 'iris_82': 2.7, 'iris_83': 2.7, 'iris_84': 3.0, 'iris_85': 3.4, 'iris_86': 3.1, 'iris_87': 2.3, 'iris_88': 3.0, 'iris_89': 2.5, 'iris_90': 2.6, 'iris_91': 3.0, 'iris_92': 2.6, 'iris_93': 2.3, 'iris_94': 2.7, 'iris_95': 3.0, 'iris_96': 2.9, 'iris_97': 2.9, 'iris_98': 2.5, 'iris_99': 2.8, 'iris_100': 3.3, 'iris_101': 2.7, 'iris_102': 3.0, 'iris_103': 2.9, 'iris_104': 3.0, 'iris_105': 3.0, 'iris_106': 2.5, 'iris_107': 2.9, 'iris_108': 2.5, 'iris_109': 3.6, 'iris_110': 3.2, 'iris_111': 2.7, 'iris_112': 3.0, 'iris_113': 2.5, 'iris_114': 2.8, 'iris_115': 3.2, 'iris_116': 3.0, 'iris_117': 3.8, 'iris_118': 2.6, 'iris_119': 2.2, 'iris_120': 3.2, 'iris_121': 2.8, 'iris_122': 2.8, 'iris_123': 2.7, 'iris_124': 3.3, 'iris_125': 3.2, 'iris_126': 2.8, 'iris_127': 3.0, 'iris_128': 2.8, 'iris_129': 3.0, 'iris_130': 2.8, 'iris_131': 3.8, 'iris_132': 2.8, 'iris_133': 2.8, 'iris_134': 2.6, 'iris_135': 3.0, 'iris_136': 3.4, 'iris_137': 3.1, 'iris_138': 3.0, 'iris_139': 3.1, 'iris_140': 3.1, 'iris_141': 3.1, 'iris_142': 2.7, 'iris_143': 3.2, 'iris_144': 3.3, 'iris_145': 3.0, 'iris_146': 2.5, 'iris_147': 3.0, 'iris_148': 3.4, 'iris_149': 3.0}, 'petal_length': {'iris_0': 1.4, 'iris_1': 1.4, 'iris_2': 1.3, 'iris_3': 1.5, 'iris_4': 1.4, 'iris_5': 1.7, 'iris_6': 1.4, 'iris_7': 1.5, 'iris_8': 1.4, 'iris_9': 1.5, 'iris_10': 1.5, 'iris_11': 1.6, 'iris_12': 1.4, 'iris_13': 1.1, 'iris_14': 1.2, 'iris_15': 1.5, 'iris_16': 1.3, 'iris_17': 1.4, 'iris_18': 1.7, 'iris_19': 1.5, 'iris_20': 1.7, 'iris_21': 1.5, 'iris_22': 1.0, 'iris_23': 1.7, 'iris_24': 1.9, 'iris_25': 1.6, 'iris_26': 1.6, 'iris_27': 1.5, 'iris_28': 1.4, 'iris_29': 1.6, 'iris_30': 1.6, 'iris_31': 1.5, 'iris_32': 1.5, 'iris_33': 1.4, 'iris_34': 1.5, 'iris_35': 1.2, 'iris_36': 1.3, 'iris_37': 1.4, 'iris_38': 1.3, 'iris_39': 1.5, 'iris_40': 1.3, 'iris_41': 1.3, 'iris_42': 1.3, 'iris_43': 1.6, 'iris_44': 1.9, 'iris_45': 1.4, 'iris_46': 1.6, 'iris_47': 1.4, 'iris_48': 1.5, 'iris_49': 1.4, 'iris_50': 4.7, 'iris_51': 4.5, 'iris_52': 4.9, 'iris_53': 4.0, 'iris_54': 4.6, 'iris_55': 4.5, 'iris_56': 4.7, 'iris_57': 3.3, 'iris_58': 4.6, 'iris_59': 3.9, 'iris_60': 3.5, 'iris_61': 4.2, 'iris_62': 4.0, 'iris_63': 4.7, 'iris_64': 3.6, 'iris_65': 4.4, 'iris_66': 4.5, 'iris_67': 4.1, 'iris_68': 4.5, 'iris_69': 3.9, 'iris_70': 4.8, 'iris_71': 4.0, 'iris_72': 4.9, 'iris_73': 4.7, 'iris_74': 4.3, 'iris_75': 4.4, 'iris_76': 4.8, 'iris_77': 5.0, 'iris_78': 4.5, 'iris_79': 3.5, 'iris_80': 3.8, 'iris_81': 3.7, 'iris_82': 3.9, 'iris_83': 5.1, 'iris_84': 4.5, 'iris_85': 4.5, 'iris_86': 4.7, 'iris_87': 4.4, 'iris_88': 4.1, 'iris_89': 4.0, 'iris_90': 4.4, 'iris_91': 4.6, 'iris_92': 4.0, 'iris_93': 3.3, 'iris_94': 4.2, 'iris_95': 4.2, 'iris_96': 4.2, 'iris_97': 4.3, 'iris_98': 3.0, 'iris_99': 4.1, 'iris_100': 6.0, 'iris_101': 5.1, 'iris_102': 5.9, 'iris_103': 5.6, 'iris_104': 5.8, 'iris_105': 6.6, 'iris_106': 4.5, 'iris_107': 6.3, 'iris_108': 5.8, 'iris_109': 6.1, 'iris_110': 5.1, 'iris_111': 5.3, 'iris_112': 5.5, 'iris_113': 5.0, 'iris_114': 5.1, 'iris_115': 5.3, 'iris_116': 5.5, 'iris_117': 6.7, 'iris_118': 6.9, 'iris_119': 5.0, 'iris_120': 5.7, 'iris_121': 4.9, 'iris_122': 6.7, 'iris_123': 4.9, 'iris_124': 5.7, 'iris_125': 6.0, 'iris_126': 4.8, 'iris_127': 4.9, 'iris_128': 5.6, 'iris_129': 5.8, 'iris_130': 6.1, 'iris_131': 6.4, 'iris_132': 5.6, 'iris_133': 5.1, 'iris_134': 5.6, 'iris_135': 6.1, 'iris_136': 5.6, 'iris_137': 5.5, 'iris_138': 4.8, 'iris_139': 5.4, 'iris_140': 5.6, 'iris_141': 5.1, 'iris_142': 5.1, 'iris_143': 5.9, 'iris_144': 5.7, 'iris_145': 5.2, 'iris_146': 5.0, 'iris_147': 5.2, 'iris_148': 5.4, 'iris_149': 5.1}, 'petal_width': {'iris_0': 0.2, 'iris_1': 0.2, 'iris_2': 0.2, 'iris_3': 0.2, 'iris_4': 0.2, 'iris_5': 0.4, 'iris_6': 0.3, 'iris_7': 0.2, 'iris_8': 0.2, 'iris_9': 0.1, 'iris_10': 0.2, 'iris_11': 0.2, 'iris_12': 0.1, 'iris_13': 0.1, 'iris_14': 0.2, 'iris_15': 0.4, 'iris_16': 0.4, 'iris_17': 0.3, 'iris_18': 0.3, 'iris_19': 0.3, 'iris_20': 0.2, 'iris_21': 0.4, 'iris_22': 0.2, 'iris_23': 0.5, 'iris_24': 0.2, 'iris_25': 0.2, 'iris_26': 0.4, 'iris_27': 0.2, 'iris_28': 0.2, 'iris_29': 0.2, 'iris_30': 0.2, 'iris_31': 0.4, 'iris_32': 0.1, 'iris_33': 0.2, 'iris_34': 0.2, 'iris_35': 0.2, 'iris_36': 0.2, 'iris_37': 0.1, 'iris_38': 0.2, 'iris_39': 0.2, 'iris_40': 0.3, 'iris_41': 0.3, 'iris_42': 0.2, 'iris_43': 0.6, 'iris_44': 0.4, 'iris_45': 0.3, 'iris_46': 0.2, 'iris_47': 0.2, 'iris_48': 0.2, 'iris_49': 0.2, 'iris_50': 1.4, 'iris_51': 1.5, 'iris_52': 1.5, 'iris_53': 1.3, 'iris_54': 1.5, 'iris_55': 1.3, 'iris_56': 1.6, 'iris_57': 1.0, 'iris_58': 1.3, 'iris_59': 1.4, 'iris_60': 1.0, 'iris_61': 1.5, 'iris_62': 1.0, 'iris_63': 1.4, 'iris_64': 1.3, 'iris_65': 1.4, 'iris_66': 1.5, 'iris_67': 1.0, 'iris_68': 1.5, 'iris_69': 1.1, 'iris_70': 1.8, 'iris_71': 1.3, 'iris_72': 1.5, 'iris_73': 1.2, 'iris_74': 1.3, 'iris_75': 1.4, 'iris_76': 1.4, 'iris_77': 1.7, 'iris_78': 1.5, 'iris_79': 1.0, 'iris_80': 1.1, 'iris_81': 1.0, 'iris_82': 1.2, 'iris_83': 1.6, 'iris_84': 1.5, 'iris_85': 1.6, 'iris_86': 1.5, 'iris_87': 1.3, 'iris_88': 1.3, 'iris_89': 1.3, 'iris_90': 1.2, 'iris_91': 1.4, 'iris_92': 1.2, 'iris_93': 1.0, 'iris_94': 1.3, 'iris_95': 1.2, 'iris_96': 1.3, 'iris_97': 1.3, 'iris_98': 1.1, 'iris_99': 1.3, 'iris_100': 2.5, 'iris_101': 1.9, 'iris_102': 2.1, 'iris_103': 1.8, 'iris_104': 2.2, 'iris_105': 2.1, 'iris_106': 1.7, 'iris_107': 1.8, 'iris_108': 1.8, 'iris_109': 2.5, 'iris_110': 2.0, 'iris_111': 1.9, 'iris_112': 2.1, 'iris_113': 2.0, 'iris_114': 2.4, 'iris_115': 2.3, 'iris_116': 1.8, 'iris_117': 2.2, 'iris_118': 2.3, 'iris_119': 1.5, 'iris_120': 2.3, 'iris_121': 2.0, 'iris_122': 2.0, 'iris_123': 1.8, 'iris_124': 2.1, 'iris_125': 1.8, 'iris_126': 1.8, 'iris_127': 1.8, 'iris_128': 2.1, 'iris_129': 1.6, 'iris_130': 1.9, 'iris_131': 2.0, 'iris_132': 2.2, 'iris_133': 1.5, 'iris_134': 1.4, 'iris_135': 2.3, 'iris_136': 2.4, 'iris_137': 1.8, 'iris_138': 1.8, 'iris_139': 2.1, 'iris_140': 2.4, 'iris_141': 2.3, 'iris_142': 1.9, 'iris_143': 2.3, 'iris_144': 2.5, 'iris_145': 2.3, 'iris_146': 1.9, 'iris_147': 2.0, 'iris_148': 2.3, 'iris_149': 1.8}})
y_iris = pd.Series({'iris_0': 'setosa', 'iris_1': 'setosa', 'iris_2': 'setosa', 'iris_3': 'setosa', 'iris_4': 'setosa', 'iris_5': 'setosa', 'iris_6': 'setosa', 'iris_7': 'setosa', 'iris_8': 'setosa', 'iris_9': 'setosa', 'iris_10': 'setosa', 'iris_11': 'setosa', 'iris_12': 'setosa', 'iris_13': 'setosa', 'iris_14': 'setosa', 'iris_15': 'setosa', 'iris_16': 'setosa', 'iris_17': 'setosa', 'iris_18': 'setosa', 'iris_19': 'setosa', 'iris_20': 'setosa', 'iris_21': 'setosa', 'iris_22': 'setosa', 'iris_23': 'setosa', 'iris_24': 'setosa', 'iris_25': 'setosa', 'iris_26': 'setosa', 'iris_27': 'setosa', 'iris_28': 'setosa', 'iris_29': 'setosa', 'iris_30': 'setosa', 'iris_31': 'setosa', 'iris_32': 'setosa', 'iris_33': 'setosa', 'iris_34': 'setosa', 'iris_35': 'setosa', 'iris_36': 'setosa', 'iris_37': 'setosa', 'iris_38': 'setosa', 'iris_39': 'setosa', 'iris_40': 'setosa', 'iris_41': 'setosa', 'iris_42': 'setosa', 'iris_43': 'setosa', 'iris_44': 'setosa', 'iris_45': 'setosa', 'iris_46': 'setosa', 'iris_47': 'setosa', 'iris_48': 'setosa', 'iris_49': 'setosa', 'iris_50': 'versicolor', 'iris_51': 'versicolor', 'iris_52': 'versicolor', 'iris_53': 'versicolor', 'iris_54': 'versicolor', 'iris_55': 'versicolor', 'iris_56': 'versicolor', 'iris_57': 'versicolor', 'iris_58': 'versicolor', 'iris_59': 'versicolor', 'iris_60': 'versicolor', 'iris_61': 'versicolor', 'iris_62': 'versicolor', 'iris_63': 'versicolor', 'iris_64': 'versicolor', 'iris_65': 'versicolor', 'iris_66': 'versicolor', 'iris_67': 'versicolor', 'iris_68': 'versicolor', 'iris_69': 'versicolor', 'iris_70': 'versicolor', 'iris_71': 'versicolor', 'iris_72': 'versicolor', 'iris_73': 'versicolor', 'iris_74': 'versicolor', 'iris_75': 'versicolor', 'iris_76': 'versicolor', 'iris_77': 'versicolor', 'iris_78': 'versicolor', 'iris_79': 'versicolor', 'iris_80': 'versicolor', 'iris_81': 'versicolor', 'iris_82': 'versicolor', 'iris_83': 'versicolor', 'iris_84': 'versicolor', 'iris_85': 'versicolor', 'iris_86': 'versicolor', 'iris_87': 'versicolor', 'iris_88': 'versicolor', 'iris_89': 'versicolor', 'iris_90': 'versicolor', 'iris_91': 'versicolor', 'iris_92': 'versicolor', 'iris_93': 'versicolor', 'iris_94': 'versicolor', 'iris_95': 'versicolor', 'iris_96': 'versicolor', 'iris_97': 'versicolor', 'iris_98': 'versicolor', 'iris_99': 'versicolor', 'iris_100': 'virginica', 'iris_101': 'virginica', 'iris_102': 'virginica', 'iris_103': 'virginica', 'iris_104': 'virginica', 'iris_105': 'virginica', 'iris_106': 'virginica', 'iris_107': 'virginica', 'iris_108': 'virginica', 'iris_109': 'virginica', 'iris_110': 'virginica', 'iris_111': 'virginica', 'iris_112': 'virginica', 'iris_113': 'virginica', 'iris_114': 'virginica', 'iris_115': 'virginica', 'iris_116': 'virginica', 'iris_117': 'virginica', 'iris_118': 'virginica', 'iris_119': 'virginica', 'iris_120': 'virginica', 'iris_121': 'virginica', 'iris_122': 'virginica', 'iris_123': 'virginica', 'iris_124': 'virginica', 'iris_125': 'virginica', 'iris_126': 'virginica', 'iris_127': 'virginica', 'iris_128': 'virginica', 'iris_129': 'virginica', 'iris_130': 'virginica', 'iris_131': 'virginica', 'iris_132': 'virginica', 'iris_133': 'virginica', 'iris_134': 'virginica', 'iris_135': 'virginica', 'iris_136': 'virginica', 'iris_137': 'virginica', 'iris_138': 'virginica', 'iris_139': 'virginica', 'iris_140': 'virginica', 'iris_141': 'virginica', 'iris_142': 'virginica', 'iris_143': 'virginica', 'iris_144': 'virginica', 'iris_145': 'virginica', 'iris_146': 'virginica', 'iris_147': 'virginica', 'iris_148': 'virginica', 'iris_149': 'virginica'})

# Get correlation matrix
data = OrderedDict()
for species, X in X_iris.groupby(y_iris):
    data[species] = X.corr()
print("Species:", list(data.keys()), "\n", "Correlation matrix shapes:", list(map(lambda df:df.shape, data.values())), sep="")
# Species:['setosa', 'versicolor', 'virginica']
# Correlation matrix shape:[(4, 4), (4, 4), (4, 4)]

with plt.style.context("seaborn-white"):
    fig, axes = plt.subplots(figsize=(13,3), ncols=len(data), sharey=True)
    for i, (species, df_corr) in enumerate(data.items()):
        sns.heatmap(df_corr, vmin=-1, vmax=1, cmap=plt.cm.seismic_r, ax=axes[i], cbar= (i == len(data) - 1), edgecolor="white", linewidth=1)

Here's my heatmaps:

I would like to rotate these ways.

Example 1 (angle around 60 degrees):

Example 2 (angle 0 degrees):

Eventually, I will try and connect the axes together with lines such as in the bottom figure but first I need to find out how to oritent these pre-existing ax objects.

EDIT: After posting this, I found https://matplotlib.org/3.1.1/gallery/images_contours_and_fields/affine_image.html and https://docs.scipy.org/doc/scipy-1.1.0/reference/generated/scipy.ndimage.affine_transform.html but I haven't figured out how to properly use this with multiple ax and line them up in this way.

I found a function that can do this to some degree (example #2 figure) but I wasn't able to reverse engineer the source code.

Answer 1

The trick here is to create images of each 'plot' and render them on the same 'axis'. As per the example given in the documentation: https://matplotlib.org/3.1.1/gallery/images_contours_and_fields/affine_image.html

import numpy
from matplotlib import pyplot
from matplotlib import transforms
from PIL import Image

fig, ax = pyplot.subplots()

for i in range(5):
    data = numpy.random.rand(4,4)
    im = ax.imshow(data, extent=[0, 10, 0, 4])
    transform = transforms.Affine2D().skew_deg(0, 30).scale(0.5, 1).translate(5*i,0)
    trans_data = transform + ax.transData
    im.set_transform(trans_data)
    ax.set_ylim(0,10)
    ax.set_xlim(0,25)

pyplot.show()

This obviously uses random data which you will have to replace by your own heatmaps, and tinker with the transforms, etc.

To generalise this somewhat, we need to create an image of the 'figure'. This can be done very clumsily with a function such as:

def create_plot_img():
    f, ax = pyplot.subplots()
    x = numpy.arange(4)
    y = numpy.random.rand(4)
    ax.plot(x,y, )
    f.canvas.draw()
    w,h = f.canvas.get_width_height()
    arr = numpy.fromstring(f.canvas.tostring_argb(), dtype=numpy.uint8)
    arr.shape = (w,h,4)
    arr = numpy.roll(arr, 3, axis = 2)
    return Image.frombytes( "RGBA", (w,h), arr.tostring())

Again this will need much tinkering to make it fit your needs.

EDIT: The first four lines of the 'create_plot_img' function, in this example is just generic code to produce a very simple line-plot with random data. This can be replaced by any matplotlib plot/scatter/3Dplot/ etc you wish.

To use this in the main code (first code block), simply alter the line:

data = numpy.random.rand(4,4)

to:

data = create_plot_img()

EDIT #2: Complete code to plot the example given in the comments below:

import numpy
from matplotlib import pyplot
from matplotlib import transforms
from PIL import Image

def create_plot_img(i):
    f, ax = pyplot.subplots()
    x = numpy.random.RandomState(i).normal(size=50)
    y = x**2
    ax.plot(x,y, )
    f.canvas.draw()
    w,h = f.canvas.get_width_height()
    arr = numpy.fromstring(f.canvas.tostring_argb(), dtype=numpy.uint8)
    arr.shape = (w,h,4)
    arr = numpy.roll(arr, 3, axis = 2)
    return Image.frombytes( "RGBA", (w,h), arr.tostring())    

fig, ax = pyplot.subplots()

for i in range(5):
    data = create_plot_img(i)
    im = ax.imshow(data, extent=[0, 10, 0, 4])
    transform = transforms.Affine2D().skew_deg(0, 30).scale(0.5,1).translate(5*i,0)
    trans_data = transform + ax.transData
    im.set_transform(trans_data)
    ax.set_ylim(0,10)
    ax.set_xlim(0,25)
pyplot.show()