OLD CATARACT CHRISTMAS (Weekly art project #8, 2020; inspired by Egypt)

Egypt is a Muslim country and we were expecting that Christmas wouldn't be celebrated there.  This didn't concern us as, quite frankly, it being our first Christmas without our children we would have rather ignored Christmas altogether ourselves! 

However, it soon became clear that  The Old Cataract Hotel was making a beautiful decorating effort to make it's more Christmas-oriented guests feel at home.  Large red strips & multi sized baubles decorated the tree at the Hotel's entrance & throughout the lobby. It was quite spectacular.

Last week's art project was inspired by exhibits in the Nubian Museum which we visited nearby the Hotel on Christmas eve.  This week's project is based around what we saw next.

When we walked back to the Hotel in the dark, we discovered that the tree above had been transformed.... 

....into this!

It is this magical experience I want to remember with my weekly  art practice, but how am I going to do it!!!!!!

It was clear that any drawing needed to be done in RED! I began by identifying a few groupings of baubles & strips, enjoying them forming small compositions.  The problem with the baubles & strips was that they were rather plain.  That wouldn't be such an issue if the scale I used was small, but what if I wanted to use fewer & bigger baubles, how was I going to create meaningful pattern & texture references? 

I returned to my photos from the Nubian museum, where I came across one of stone blocks from a church archway.  I think it was a Coptic Christian church, but am not absolutely sure.  Anyway, in carved relief on each block was a beautiful decorative pattern, so I chose to use a variation of these to make my baubles more interesting.

It was time to get on with the making & cutting back!  Here's how it went...

This is the final outcome & I'm not very happy with it!
Sometimes bright ideas just don't work! Today was one of those days.

Although the composition looked good with just pen lines on white paper, it looks odd in the final full blown colour version.  Part of the problem is that row of red strips at the back all in a straight line.  They are too close together & would look more interesting at varying lengths.

As for the baubles, I REALLY don't like the blobs of pale yellow & wish I'd just kept the designs in two tones of orange as per the 2nd cutback photo.  Less would definitely have been more in this case.

In the background, I wanted to reference the tree somehow.  My initial plan was to use some old curtain samples, but the ones most appropriate weren't large enough for the background space.  My solution was to use a lino print I had from a printing session last year.  The graphic style of the branches suited the bold shapes in the foreground, & I didn't mind the white.  Of course it wasn't big enough for the whole area either, so I found the blue to match & fill in the gaps. It wouldn't look quite so strong if those red strips broke that solidity up more.

A painter I follow on social media posted something today about the stress of not getting an artwork 'right' & how sometimes, even though you've had a clear idea in your head, and you've tried & you've tried again... it just doesn't work & the only thing to do is ditch it & start over. 

If this were more than an exercise I'd do just that! However, it will remain with all my other weekly art exercises & remind me that disappointments are all part of the process! 
I hope that your art making this week is more satisfying !