Last Three from the Souq Series

#9     "One Hump or Two?"

The Last three in the Series of  The BAB Souq.  I think these last three are my favorites.  I don't know though I like them all for different reasons.  I actually eliminated the real #7 and that made all the numbers off a bit as I did 12 prints in all.  #7 just lacked too much. Although, you never know I guess. I just have been into more detail and busy-ness lately. #9 is an encore of my original favorite camel photo that I fashioned my original camel stamp from which is also included in this print.  There are some of the Bahrain Postage Stamps featuring among other things a photo of the King.  I also like to include the local paper written in Arabic which I cannot read so I try to put it in such a way that the viewer understands that the artwork is not about what is written in the article. 

  "With Blessing"#10, is two views of a blind begger that is a constant in the Souq. The Arabic writing says "with blessing".

  #11 "Open"  is another breakdown of some of the graffiti I found.  I love these cartoonish images and the cartoon key going into the real lock.  I should just keep going on this series as I like each new one better than the last.  I guess that's a good thing.  I've been told that the BAB fest will extend into April.  My show was only for a week though so if you happen to go you will see a new artist each week. Be sure to check out the Festivities from 4:30 to 10 PM Thursdays thru Saturdays in the archway of the BAB Building, Gate way to the Souq.  My Last print workshop is next Friday and Saturday, the 29th and 30th of March.

#10   "With Blessing"

#11   "Open"

Playing around with Picasso's Camel

Picasso's Camel

My version

a sampling of the preliminary sketches

I didn't even know Picasso had a camel actually, but I saw it on a tea set at a friend's house and thought it was a great design idea for a repeatable image.  I figured if it is on a tea set it probably is not copy righted, but still I would rather come up with my own stuff rather than just repeat someone else's image.  One of the main things I didn't like about Picasso's version was that it has two humps and the camels here in Bahrain have only one.  I wasn't particularly fond of the head either as it looks more like a llama to me.  The other thing is that the camels hold their heads even with or lower than their hump most of the time in my observance.  The camels feet are like big cleft thick pancakes that spread out all the way around the leg as they step.  Their bellies protrude and their hips are really small through the flank area.
   So I set about making my own version.  I drew and redrew and redrew some more.  I bet I have drawn this out over a hundred times and it is still not perfect!  It is amazing how the tiniest variation makes such a difference when you are dealing with such a simple design.  When I drew the camel too close to reality (much more spread out from head to tail) then the design wasn't as interesting.  I had to compromise back and forth trying to perfect the image so that it was both recognizable as a camel around here and a pleasing design element.  I wonder how many times Picasso drew his out.  Probably only once... I guess that's what makes him Picasso! LOL!

Birth of Venus as a Camel?

I think with a shell under her... Okay, maybe it just felt like a birthing!  It's not always easy to make an image in stamp or print form, at least for me.  There are just so many ways you could go with the design.

This is the same camel that I used for the monoprint with the camel.  I liked her pose.  I have other camel images I am working with from different views.  This image is 5.25".

Here is a view of the stamps themselves and the image test page.  I thought these smaller camels in a
line would make good design pattern elements that could be versatile.

Crow Stamps

I liked my crow photos that I put in my monotypes so much that I thought It might be interesting to have a stamp of them that I could include into an underpainting etc. in other works. They were fun to carve and very easy. I thought I would show them to you and the part of an underpainting in which I tried them out.  I may do a little more work on them as I see a few changes I would make.  I made a smaller version turned one way and then a larger version turned the other way.  I will probably make one with the profile image as well. These two images were printed by inking the stamp with acrylic paint.