Articles from October 2019

Ruined Archangel

Finished this new print in time for the Halloween art show at the Flat Iron Arts Building. This one is called “Ruined Archangel”. This old church is an ruined village in the mountains on a island called Kefalonia in Greece. The earthquake in 1953 destroyed the old village and most of the houses and this church were abandoned and the village moved about a half kilometer down the mountain.  This church was the named after the Archangel Michael and some of the elderly villages will still put lit candles in the little alcove outside the church. 

I left the image is intentionally left dark to give the print the abandoned and a sad feeling that nothing is their now that the church is near completely overgrown. The gorgeous sunset is a stark juxtaposition to the old church and feel the contrast. The leading lines of the retaining wall at the bottom and the mountains in the background are all supposed to draw your eye back to the old decaying church and leave you emotionally attached to the church. The image is also scaled to 16×9 to give it a wide screen feel.

Shot August 2019

Print Numbers:

1 is a 11 x 19 image

2 is a 18 x 21 image

3 is a 16 x 28 image that is currently hanging at the the Flat Iron

 

Morocco Day 2 Part 3

After walking out of the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque we walked around the city towards the street of copper. I wanted to see this as I heard they will still hand hammering copper in all the shops. 

As we walked there were just so many great images to shoot, I love all the doorways and the architecture in the city.

           

As we were walking we were able to look into another on of the entrances to the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque complex. We walked all the way around to try to get to the street of copper. It really is unfortunate that we were unable to go inside, there just were so much to shoot in there.  The lamps hanging in the narrow streets I thought was another interesting feature of the city and in the narrow streets was something else to love about Fez. 

     

The street of copper was very noisy, everyone one hammering their works.  You can see them heating up the copper with burners and then hand hammering everything, then afterwards they polish it all by hand. The copper looks amazing too, really shinny and all of it is formed very nicely. 

        

And walking through this all is a guy carrying a bunch of birds for sale. I couldn’t help but ask him for a picture. He of course allowed me to and then as soon as I was done gave me the food motion so I gave him a couple dirham for the photo. 

Then off wandering through the streets again and into the Al-Attarine Madrasa. This was was built again in the 1300’s and the name actually means “Madrassa of the Perfumers” since it is right next to the spice and perfume souks in Fes. This was a tiny madrassa compared to the Bou Inania Madrassa. 

What was also really cool about this madrassa was that you could go up to the cells on the second floor and see the rooms where the students would live and study in. You had to walk up this narrow stairwell and then go through this tiny hallway where you could get into each of the cells. They only had a single window in each cell to look out over the courtyard. 

After this our tour was done and it was back to the Riad to relax a bit before our dinner. I had booked Dar Hatim for dinner. I had read alot of reviews about the restaurant and heard so many good things about it.  They driver came and picked us up right from our Riad, which was absolutely necessary. When we got out of the car, with a couple he led us through all these winding streets and we would have never been able to find it by ourselves. 

When we got there it was an amazing little restaurant. They showed us to this little corner area which was had these super soft cushions. The owner Kareema was so nice. She remembered me from my emails to her and was absolutely delightful to chat with.  They brought us out a huge variety of appetizers, including lentils, olives, zucchini, eggplant and more. This was all served with warm Moroccan bread. They were delicious.

 

Our host then recommended the Lamb Tanjin and the Chicken pastilla, which she said were her moms and her specialty dishes. She was right they were absolutely delicious. So much so, I started eating before I could remember to take pics of the food. 

Afterwards it was the daily dessert and fresh mint tea. After were done and paid the rather modest bill, the driver took us back to the hotel, even though the other couple was still hanging out and chatting. On the ride back we found out that he was Kareema’s husband. We thanked him very much for everything and told them it was an amazing time at dinner. 

 

 

Morocco Day 2 Part 2

After dropping off our car we started to walk through the old Medina. As I mentioned earlier having the guide was a huge help. He was able to get us through all the windy streets and get us to each place quickly. 

The first stop was the Dar al-Magana, which is “house of the clock”. This was built in the in the 1300’s and finished in 1357. This is clock would use water to weight down pulleys and open the doors to show the time.  

    

Right behind the clock house was the Madrasa Bou Inania which is an old Islamic School. It was the last Madrassa to be built by the Marinids dynasty. The architecture is absolutely amazing. The plaster, wood and tile works is so detailed and creative it really makes you think about how long it took the artisans to do all this work. This is also one of the few Islamic building that allow non-Muslims to enter. Finished in 1356 it was restored in the 1800’s.

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There were so many cool things to see as we are walking to our next destination, every corner had all this great tile work and even old doors we beautifully decorated.

      

Next stop was the Sid Moussa Tannery. Not the  biggest tannery in Fez, but a interesting visit. Of course our guide knew someone at the tannery and he turned us over to him for the tour.  To start off, everything you read about the smell is true. It was awful! They give you a mint spring as you walk in so you can hold it up to your nose for the tour, while you are outside. Even as you start to get near the tannery you can start to smell the hides. The process for making these leather products has not changed in hundreds of years.

First  they soak the hides in cow urine, water and salt.  This loosens up the hair, fat so they can be scraped off (pic 2). Then after that the hides are put into a mixture of pigeon poo and water to soften the leather. These are the is the big white pits you see at the bottom of the first picture. 

    

After all this they go into the dye pits and are soaked while someone has to stomp up and down the hides to make sure they are completely coated and soaked into the leather.  It was very impressive to see this all. You have to feel for the guys doing all this work. This is really hard labor. We were told the guys work 3 days and then take 3 days off after that, but still a just exhausting job this must be. 

             

After viewing how they make the leather, we of course were shown all the goods for sale. I’m sorry I didn’t grab pictures of the 4 floors of leather, jackets purses, wallets, ottomans etc..etc… I bought a little purse for my daughter. Interesting, he was showing us the difference between some of the leathers camel vs. Goat. The camel leather is much more durable he said, but the goat purse I bought was just so very soft. 

Next we were off to the Nejjarine Museum or wood working museum, no pictures of the displays were allowed but the museum itself was very impressive.  The details again was impressive, and all the exhibits showers old woodcarving techniques. There were wooden chairs, chests, doors, tools, musical instruments, etc. I wish pictures were allowed there. 

      

Next was the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque. Unfortunately we were not allowed in for this, but the tile work and detail again was just amazing to see from the outside. Was able to grabs some amazing shots just all around the outside of the building.

           

Day 2 Part 3 is coming soon… Another amazing Madrassa and the street of copper.