Wednesday 31 October 2018

A ROOM IN MENA HOUSE (WAP; Egypt #1)

To celebrate my husband's 50th birthday ( back in 2011), we decided to spend a month in Egypt!
It wasn't the most stable time in the country's history. There had been a considerable amount of civil unrest  & both sides of our family were concerned about our decision.  However, the people we had contact with in Egypt reassured us that we would be fine...so we took the risk....having revamped our wills before setting off on this phenomenal adventure!

Both of us had been brought up in Christian households, where Egypt was the setting for many a Bible story.  It was a place we had both dreamt of going, & consequently... were totally overwhelmed when we finally arrived.

Our first stop was Mena House, where we'd booked a few nights stay because it was close to the Pyramids! This was first a hunting lodge & then a palace before being transformed to a very famous Hotel.

Inside it was GLORIOUS! Beautiful carved & inlaid wood everywhere, gold & lightshades cut through so that the light decorated the walls in pattern. Sigh! It took our breaths away!


We'd only booked a standard room, but because the tourist industry (of which they were so dependant) had suffered a significant slump...and because I'd let them know it was my husband's birthday...we were upgraded to a suite.

Not just any suite.

Down the hall was the Presendential Suite, and another had housed Churchill!
Ours looked directly out onto a PYRAMID (as in....RIGHT OUTSIDE THE WINDOW!!), was decorated throughout with beautiful inlaid wood work & had been the preferred suite of Om Kolthoom, an Egyptian singer who is to Egypt what Kiri TeKanawa is to NZ & Joan Sutherland to Australia!

Needless to say...it was such a beautiful surprise to start our Egypt experience with.

From my side of the bed, I could look into the sitting area & see a painted mural. It was naive in style & showed the River Nile with trees & plants around it. Time & time again, my eye kept being drawn to it.  In fact....I looked at it more than the giant pyramid out the window!!




It seemed appropriate that I start my Egypt inspired weekly art project with this room as my muse.

I began with the idea that I'd like to create something using the different shapes & patterns in the decoration of the room, so began making visual notes of the shapes & edgings.  Whilst I was doing this though, my mind kept going back to the mural.

So, I decided to focus solely on that.
It soon became clear that even if categorized as 'naive' in style, there was still a lot of detail in the plants I was making sketched notes of!!  It fascinates me how different artists capture the personality of trees & plants in stylised drawings. The more I looked the more I wanted to try capturing some of these motifs using contemporary reverse applique.

Once again, I decided to stick with an A4 size for these projects.  With that small space in mind...was I pushing the limit to have this many colours in my design?
How was I going to manage the physical cutting of 8-9 fabrics in small spaces?
These were risks I was prepared to take.


After cutting to shape, ironing, stacking & then sewing the design through all 10 layers (there was a backing as well as the 9 colour fabrics), this is how it looked.

I chose a lighter, variegated thread to stitch my design  with, partly because I'm out of dark grey thread (next thing on my shopping list!!) and because I thought it would add another element of interest.

The colour of the fabric isn't quite right in the photo above, but you can still see how small & close together the sections & lines of this design are to each other. It was going to be interesting to see whether it still looked recognisable once it was cut back!

Here's how it went;





So far so good!  Now for a little bit of tweeking & a few embellishments!


I am very happy with my final result.
Whilst it looks significantly different to the original mural, this immediately takes me back to that magnificent room where we battled jetlag and started to explore this ancient land.

Technically, this was a very difficult piece of cutting & it took much longer (approximately 6 hours) to cut back than my weekly art projects usually take & has left me with a very painful blister on my cutting thumb!!  It was worth it though.
If I were doing it again, I would try & reduce the colour palette & consequently the number of fabric layers.  I would also keep the variegated thread for the frame, but use a thread closer to the fabric colour for the plant life inside.

What a start!  I'm looking forward to seeing what grabs me for inspiration next week!

Monday 22 October 2018

HAMMAM (#25 WAP; Istanbul)





For my last weekly art project inspired by my time in Istanbul, I've chosen to use the Hamam experience as my source of inspiration.

This is partly due to the fact that, this week, the pestemal that I bought whilst there & have been using ever since to dry my hair after showering each morning....has finally become too thin & holey & has been sent to the fabric stash in my workroom!

A Hamam is a public cleansing experience, shared with people of the same gender in the privacy of a specifically designed space.

Here's an extract from my travel blog whilst there in 2011;

"I am not a dirty person, but with what I've learnt about bathing in the Turkish Baths, there is definitely an art to cleanliness!

 REQUIREMENTS:
 1 - Pestemal, an over sized tea-towel which is wrapped sarong-like around the body. Made of cotton & very absorbent. (So good, I brought one home!)

 2 - Kese, an abrasive mitt.  I chose a silk one, which was the cheapest & least scratchy! (And... I could bring this home too!)

 3 - Soap, the ideal here is olive oil soap which lathers up well & is good for the skin.  It comes in  various fragrances, and frequently has abrasive bits in it, like cinnamon bark to act as an exfoliant.

4 - Wooden clogs, these are supposed to prevent you from slipping on wet marble & are like an elevated flipflop/jandal except that the strap crosses all the toes instead of between the first two!  It was a challenge to find clogs long enough for my size 10 feet. This was not to be my Cinderella moment, so I made do with shuffling along with my heel hanging over the back of the biggest ones they had!



5- Hamam bowl, usually made of silver or copper,  these are used to scoop up water to sluice or cool down. (This is the one I bought & now store my hair brush & etc in!!)






6 - Turkish bath house, (ie; Hamam) a building with a domed roof with blister-like glass protrusions. (On close inspection they look more like pert breasts!) these let light into the Hamam & nothing else! Inside, the interior is largely made of marble.
7 - An attendant, masseuse & body washer.  They come in all shapes & sizes, are female & wear a uniform which looks like black speedoes with matching shorts. They are MUCH stronger than they look!!!
 (The attendants, not the uniform!)"

With the memory of being lathered up, sluiced off & pummelled multiple times... I set about making visual notes of the patterns stamped into my Hamam bowl & the shape of the Hamam roof top, before working up a design into which I could insert the remains of my silk kese & my pestemal.





And then it was time to search the fabrics for the right combination to complete my design.  I chose a monochromatic range of greys to represent both the roof & my bowl.

Once cut to size, ironed & the design transferred onto the top layer, it was time to stitch through the fabrics & then start cutting back.

This is how the cutting back went....












Ahem....admittedly there was at least one step of the process that missed out on being photographed! Sorry.
Nevertheless, I am very pleased with this final piece to my Istanbul inspired weekly art projects.
The stripey fabric is the remains of my pestemal & the interior of the two circles contain fragments of the silk kese. I particularly like the addition of that piece of edging at the top of my finished piece.  It's dangley fringe draws the eye down to the patterns of the bowl below.  I also like the contrast between the stripes & curves.

This has been such a fun project & I have thoroughly enjoyed revisiting my memories as well as the plethora of photos I took whilst in the beautiful city of Istanbul.  My plan now, is to neaten each piece up & make it into a fabric book.

As for the weekly art projects...I think it's time I revisited my trip to Egypt!  Lot's of wonderful inspiration there & I'm looking forward to seeing what design ideas & practice comes from it. In the meantime...happy creating!

Monday 15 October 2018

GOOD OVER EVIL (WAP #24; ISTANBUL)





On the first day we arrived in Istanbul, we fought against jetlag & the humidity by visiting the Mosaic Museum. One of the most impressive mosaics we saw was this eagle killing a snake.

Both of these creatures are rich in symbolism throughout the various cultures of the world, but in this case the combination of the two is supposed to represent 'light over darkness'.  The use of that particular wording can be interpreted to refer to colour tones, & THAT has led to all sorts of  ridiculous interpersonal conflict throughout history.  Therefore, I am giving it an alternative label... 'Good over Evil' !




In the Archeological Museum, I found another example of this motif & I particularly liked the range of marks the sculptor used to give the impression of texture.

Therefore it was this ancient marble slab that was my source of inspiration for this week's art project.






It is one thing to look at something & be excited about the texture, it is quite another to draw it.  As I have said many times before, drawing is visual note-taking.  It requires my eye to truly focus on the details as well as the whole & try to represent what I see onto paper.

In the process of working up a design, I knew I couldn't fit the whole eagle & snake into  A4 sizing, but I wanted to use some of those patterns & I wanted to reproduce the heads of both characters.  Eventually I had a design I was satisfied with & went in search of appropriate fabrics.





It took little time to choose for both the eagle & the snake.  I was very happy with a paisley pattern in blacks & greys that I thought would look great as the snake's skin.  My difficulty was finding a background colour.  It was quite by chance that I came across a soft clean blue.  I chose this one because it looked right, even if I wasn't too sure about the busy pattern.  With my fabrics ironed & layered up, and the outlines sewn in...it was time to pick up the scissors and start cutting back!
Here's how it went....



















Sadly, I did have camera & light problems whilst photographing the progress shots & this photo of the final cut back is poor!
I love the textural patterns in this piece & am very happy with how it has turned out.  The only thing I'd change is to use a dark grey rather than black as the snake & beak outlines.  The tonal values are a bit too close, which detracts from texture of it's patterning.
I love the shape of the eagle's head & how I've done it's neck feathers.  And even that patterned background works for me, so all in all...a very good result from a day in which I felt as if I were sleep walking!!!
Next week will be my last WAP inspired by Istanbul....I wonder what I'll choose to be inspired by! Until then...happy creating!

Monday 8 October 2018

BOUKOLEON PALACE (WAP #23)





One of the most memorable experiences of my two weeks in Istanbul, was the day I spent with artist & guide, Trici Venola.  She took me walking all around the city, showing me glimpses of Byzantine Constantinople in amidst the chaos of today's modern city.  It was here, whilst gazing (mouth agog) at the remains of the Buokoleon Palace that she pointed out that the sea during that time, came right up to the Palace walls, whereas in today's Istanbul, there is a big motorway & a whole district of fish sellers & restaurants to get to before encountering the lapping waves.




A few days later I was in the Museum & came across this illustration by Ioannes Skylithes in the 12th century.  It shows Empress Zoe in the Buokoleon Palace leaning out to greet  sailors.  It also illustrates the sea coming up to the walls of the Palace!

I was so excited to spot this in the glass display case.  It meant so much more having walked past the remains of the Palace a few days earlier.

This was to be my muse for this week's art project.


I had made a sketch whilst in Istanbul, so armed with that & the less than perfect photo, I decided to focus on reproducing the Palace itself.  Using pencil & a ruler first, I wanted to maintain a similar proportion to the 12th century illustration, but I also wanted to allow it to keep it's slightly higgledy appearance!

Once a line drawing was completed to my satisfaction, I then set about working out where I wanted my stitch and cutting lines to go.

Whilst this motif looks fairly simple, the work involved in trying to reproduce it was not & took me far longer than even I would have guessed!  At last though, it was time to rummage through the fabrics!







I was immediately pleased with my choices, both for their colour & the speed with which I was able to settle on them.  However, I was a teensy bit concerned about the balance of tonal values, so whipped out the camera, changed the setting & took a black & white image of them all together.  I was pleasantly surprised that light, dark & medium were almost equally balanced.  This meant I could get on with the first lot of layering up & stitching.





Before I could even begin to think of starting the main focus of my project, I needed to get the background sorted.  In this case I needed a sky & a sea.
Without cutting it back, I layered up the next lot of fabrics ready to cut back.
Here's how it went.


























At last it was finished!
I was so grateful not to be the one cooking dinner last night! It meant I could just keep going, as the cutting was fiddly & slow & I ran into a few hiccups along the way.  I REALLY wanted to see it completed & thankfully, I was able to!
I am so pleased with the outcome!  My handy little gel pen enabled me to add a few touches to bring the whole piece to life.
Given the interuptions to my weekly art project in the past few months, it has been an effort to get back into a routine of focusing on these small samples of working! Although the technique in this piece is quite simple, the process of getting to the desired end is quite complex.  The practice, in itself, is incredible valuable.
I hope this encourages you in your own practicing, whatever your skill set!!