PLAYING WITH PYRAMIDS (WAP;Egypt #3)

A lot of people assume that there are only three pyramids in Egypt....these three that draw crowds to the Giza plateau in their droves. However, when we were there...we saw more touts than tourists and they desperately congregated around the pyramids trying to see their wares or a ride on the family camel!  
The sky was grey with a pollution laden fog creating a mystical atmosphere into which these three giant tombs arose. 

It was an amazing experience to get up close & see the size of the blocks the pyramids were made of, and to think about the people who built them. The word awesome is appropriate, as is "WOW!"!

It was also mind boggling to see how many other pyramids & partial pyramids there were throughout the rest of  the region too.

My favourite was this step pyramid at Saqqara.
We were the first visitors to arrive that day, so had the place to ourselves for a while.  This site began in the 27th century BC! That time scale alone completely does my head in!!  This was the prototype for all the pyramids that were to follow.

One of the things I liked about visiting on this particular occasion, was the scaffolding that surrounded it.  In fact...I took more photos of the scaffolding than I did of the pyramid! The workmen were attempting to stabilise the pyramid & it amazed me that they were doing so whilst balanced on such rickety looking scaffolding!

I loved the shadows & lines the early morning sunlight made on the pyramid, which in itself looked like it had grown directly up from the sand.

What a rich & precious gift, to be able to travel & see these ancient wonders.

From all the pyramid photos I took, this was one of my favourites.  Not only does it highlight the size of the pyramid bricks in the background & reference the touts offering camel rides, but I love the laughter of the girls on the camel's back & the way the colour of their clothes & the saddle blankets pop out in contrast to the sandy terrain & background.

How was I going to express all of these sights & experiences into one weekly art project?

By making a start!!

Just to break up the pattern I'd got into of always using black pen for my preliminary sketches, this time I chose to use water brushes & water colours.
They were quick visual notes & they did what I wanted them to do. They recorded colour & shapes.

Initially I thought I might try & do a camel face with a pyramid in the background, but then I looked closer at my camel photo & became more interested in the patterns of the saddle blanket. They may look like simple designs, but it took some time to record the colour pattern & placement. As I did so, I noticed that the triangular pattern reminded me of pyramids.

An idea came to me, I developed it & reached the 'rummage through fabric' part of the process!

I chose colours that represented those I had observed in the sand & pyramids, as well as the sky, which was often grey with glimpses of blue.

Using my black & white app, I checked that I had a good mix of tonal values & then cut, ironed & layered up, before stitching the design in.

This was the design I was working on.

As you can tell, I've combined the patterns of both saddle blankets into an interesting whole.  The top one would....obviously, represent the pyramids.  For the lower section,  I have turned the diamond pattern  on it's side to become squares.   I wanted these to represent the huge blocks the pyramids were made of.

It was time to let the cutting back begin.  Here's how the image above was transformed...

 

At last the final sections were cut away to reveal the end result.

You will have noticed that at one point, I changed the solid pale grey triangles in the upper pattern into half trainagles.  The reason for this is to make the remaining dark grey triangles more prominant by surrounding them with smaller sized shapes.  It also gave a better idea of a patchy sky!!

You will also have noticed that I have managed to reference the scaffolding from the pyramid at Saqqara by extending some of the lines by stitching into underlying fabrics.  This was a nuisance to cut out & did take a lot more concentration , but the result is definitely worth the effort.

I am so pleased with this outcome.  And I was delighted with how the concept evolved over the day.  It is a design I can imagine doing on a bigger scale, which could be quite effective.  The background layer of fabric is one that has a sepia coloured map on it, which was an excellent choice as it adds interest.
All  in all, a very pleasing project to start a very busy week with. Yeehah!