LITTLE HOOPOE (WAP; Egypt #5)

 One of the places I was desperate to visit before leaving the Cairo region, was the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre. It is an award winning weaving centre which provides an income for generations of local women who learn to weave on site, & then are employed to weave. Ramses Wissa Wassef was quite a visionary, believing that children have within them a natural ability to create. One of his principles was that there be no patterns made to follow in the creating of the weaving, even the young children as they learnt would have to follow the image they wanted to produce...in their imagination. I had read about him via the internet & so wanted to visit this special place.

On the day we arrived, the weavers were having some time off, so I didn't get to see them at work, but I did have a wonderful stroll around their gallery shop.  Ohhhhhhh MY!  I would have loved to have spent a bit of money there!!

The stories told in the weavings were all about the everyday living of Egyptian life, that we had seen going on right outside our car window, as we traveled from one site to another.

They were not only beautiful, but complex visual narratives.  

There were many that I truly loved, but one little character that I was most smitten with, a little Hoopoe bird!

We had seen a couple of these birds in the grounds of Mena House on the first day we arrived & my excitement at seeing them scared the poor little birds away!  They are striking to look at & even when portrayed in a naive or simplified style, they can still be recognised as Hoopoe!

I wanted to enjoy my weekly art project time today, creating a simple version of this bird.

I started with line drawings using photos & pictures in books, as well as the Hoopoe bird in the weaving, as my source of direction.

Birds are not my forte.  They are not in my sketching skill set!  This meant I had to go over & over the shapes & lines again & again.  Keeping a design simple is not as easy as one might think!  In the end I took my ruler & drew solid lines & sharp angles through the mess I'd made on the page & was remarkably happy with the outcome.

Fabric choices for the Hoopoe came quickly, but oh dear...the background...took AGES!

It was a relief to finally get started.

After sewing in the design, I didn't cut anything back until I had drawn in my cutting lines with a white iron-out pen.  This is so useful as it gives me an idea as to how the outlines will look & whether I need to alter the width of any lines to create interest or effect.

At last it was time to let the cutting back begin.  here's how it went...

Isn't he cute!
I am so pleased with this little fella.
There are a few technical aspects of this piece that I am particularly pleased with. I'm glad I chose the wild background fabric.  It is from South Africa & was given to me by a friend who was actually born in Egypt, so there is a lovely personal connection there.
I'm glad I kept the Hoopoe simple & bold, otherwise he might have been lost in the dynamism of that background.
I'm glad I thought to angle my scissors in such a way that some of the white layer is seen as an outline to the black in the wings.  It is just a shame that I wasn't quick enough to think of angling the scissors the OTHER way for parts of the body!!!
It isn't obvious in the photo, but there are three layers of black in the sandwich of fabrics that were cut back to produce this Hoopoe.  One of those blacks is satin, so reflects the light.  This is what appears in the wing & tail feathers & looks effective.
The finishing touch is an eye made up of a button with a white pearl bead sewn on top.

Because I really couldn't resist, I put little Hoopoe through the app treatment & this was the fun result!!  Next week's art project will be inspired by something in Luxor. I'm looking forward to it already!