TREE OF LIFE (WAP#22; Istanbul)

I am embarrassed to say that in the 21 years that I have lived in Adelaide (South Australia), I had never been to The Cedars in Hahndorf...until last Friday!!
The Cedars is the former home of Australia's most cherished landscape painter of the 1900's, Sir Hans Heysen.  Onsite a visitor can walk trails to view locations where he captured portraits of exquisite gum trees in the most glorious light.  We also got to see his studio, home & daughter's studio.  What an inspiring treat!  Now that I've been, I want to go again!

But what has this got to do with Istanbul or my weekly art project????????

Inspiration comes from all sorts of stimuli.  Whilst following the tour around his house, I noticed that the floors were covered in the most beautiful Persian rugs.  I wanted more time to explore these as much as his artwork on the walls. 

Of course they reminded me of the rug sellers in Istanbul.  There were so many of them & they ALL wanted to make a sale.  The fact that we weren't wanting to buy rugs because our cat is inclined to shred them, didn't register as a problem to these guys, they kept on trying to sell sell sell! Finally, in an exhibition of Turkish rugs in the Decorative Arts Museum, I was able to enjoy looking without the harassment!

Therefore, it is the Turkish Rug that I chose as my muse for this weeks art project.

I began by returning to my Istanbul sketchbook where I had recorded a number of 'Tree Of Life' designs from the various rugs exhibited. 
My plan was to create a design that included aspects of these sketches, but there was no way that I could incorporate all of the designs I had recorded.  Therefore I chose my favourites & began playing with design ideas.

Because of my love of the 'Prayer Mat' format, I chose to structure my design in that style.

At last, after much drawing & redrawing, I had something I felt comfortable to work with.  It was time to think of colour.

I chose to stick with the blues, reds & golds that are most frequently used in older mats.  My fabric range was a little lacking, so these would just have to do!!

It was time for the cutting back to begin!!

The final result & I am relatively happy with it.
In design terms, I'm not super keen on the curved elements at the top, & if I'd invested more time in the design process, I wouldv'e played around with those some more.  I would love to get my needles & threads out for some stitchery in this piece as well!!
This was fun and has the added pleasure of connecting two inspiring excursions.  I've also just realised...that Hans Heysen was passionate about trees & the fact that I have created this using 'Tree Of Life' designs, is all the more meaningful.

WEATHER WORN LION (WAP#21; Istanbul)

Memory has been on my mind a lot lately. 
Not surprising given our family has been mourning the loss & celebrating the life of my mother-in-law.  One of my responsibilities has been the compiling of photos into a digital file.  They came from various sources as well as our own, and I saw glimpses of my mother-in-law that I hadn't seen before & was reminded of times which I had delegated to the back corners of my memory.
I was struck by two very powerful thoughts; how valuable photographs are to aid the act of remembering, and...how very easy it is to forget!

These thoughts led me to focus on this weathered old stone lion, who sits in the garden of the Archaeological Museum in Istanbul.

Whilst we were staying in that incredible city my husband had a conference to attend, which meant that I was free to go off sketching for a couple days.
This lion was one of my first attempts whilst based at the museum for the day. 

I chose him because I felt so sorry for him!  There isn't a lot of the lion left, as time & the elements have taken their toll.  His maw seems to be crying in pain at the inevitable loss of identity.  How long will he still have sufficient marks to remind viewers of his mighty lionness? How many years will it be before he is stripped of all his carved features and is left as he began...a lump of rock?

I felt compelled to remember him.

And I felt compelled again, to make him my weekly art project muse.

I began with fresh sketches, casting my eye from the photo to my first pen drawing from.
Admittedly, I still didn't manage to get the proportions quite right! He does look a bit more doggy than lion-like!
Nevertheless...this was the point from which my design sprang.

My colour palette was simple.  I wanted the greys to represent stone & the gold fabric as a bright background to represent the lion he was sculpted to resemble.

The fabrics were cut, ironed, layered up & the design was stitched through to secure them all together.

It was time for the cutting back to begin.

The most successful parts of this piece are the two darker grey fabrics. Their mottled patterning means that they blend together quite well.  It is a shame I didn't have a lighter grey with a mottled pattern on it, as that may have softened the contrast between the darker & lighter areas.
Regardless, I am very pleased with this ancient lion....even if he does look like a dog!  I feel I've given him back some dignity & I've assured him that he won't be forgotten!

Being me, I HAD to see what would happen if I played with his image in my 'layout' app.  These are my two favourite results.

Hard to believe that a weathered old stone lion has been the source of these unusual patterns!!
Until next time...happy creating.