A CARPET PAGE’S PROGRESS/PROCESS VI
Getting increasingly complex: I outlined some of the lines I’d already drawn in green in order to differentiate them from the new layer I was doing. However, there are ways to simplify… by drawing one-eighth of the spirals, the whole piece can effectively be done via the trace and re-trace method. ~
A CARPET PAGE’S PROGRESS/PROCESS V
Layering up the elements of the pattern – the underlying spirals freely flow in and out of each other and the inner carpet box is coming to completion. Tiny circles are for tiny flowers to be added later on with my brush (which is more accurate than the pencil) ~
Finding the underlying spirals within each motif first; building up the first element, the first layer of the pattern using my layer technique.
Adding circles for where khataei flowers or islimi or other pattern elements will go; colouring them in first for ease of reference (only the edges of the circles will be traced; however these elements are so tiny that for my own eyesight it’s just easier to see the contrast between the coloured-in element and the spirals!)
Starting to build up the collection of initial pattern elements. I’m tracing them down as I go, to get them on the page, so I can see what it looks like as a whole ~
Now that this is set down it’s time to draw more definite ruler lines. And to tackle the geometry of the main, inner carpet box.
Again it can be quartered. Breaking things down into smaller bitesize parts so it’s easier to digest and handle during the analysis and drawing process – which happens simultaneously and organically – I started with the inner rectangular quatrefoil and work from there. I sketched the shapes first, freehand. Bear in mind that everything anyway needs to be done by hand so you might as well get this hand-practise in first and as much as you can – drawing is key, as is hand-eye coordination.
I worked with geometry tools too but realised that since you always end up needing to do it by hand anyway, and that is always true, I might as well practise drawing good curves by hand and by eye. So with this in mind I carefully drew the whole geometric part by hand. I am lucky to have had a lot of experience with drawing in general, which helps (as I have been drawing all my life, not just throughout all my years of art school but really since I could hold a pen) – and this makes the geometry flow and look organic, not static. The symmetry comes from doing it in one quarter first.
Drawing by eye and by hand allows a rhythm in the geometry to show through, and in this sense it is more ‘true’ than if it were done with instruments. Remember it all has to be done by hand anyway – if that is your aim (it is mine); if not, then computers can do it better, and there is the option of recreating it entirely digitally. But for me the pleasure in making and in viewing things done by hand usually surpasses that which is created digitally.
I only drew the main lines of the main carpet box, not the intricate motifs inside each one; I can do those later.
I worked on the piece as a whole, to keep my eyes and hands moving and to keep ‘on the ball’ and on my toes. I sketched out the border motif loosely at first, and then in a more detailed way, looking at it in further detail. Again, I halved the motif so I could get a symmetrical pattern, which is then repeatable. Note that I did not draw all the intricacies of the motif – only the main lines, which are spirals. The whole piece is based on a series of interlocking spirals and it is these that are the connectors for all the other elements. So, in keeping with my ‘layer’ technique, I drew only the spirals first, and loosely sketched in the other main elements – loosely, so they can be refined later. In fact, to differentiate them from the spirals, I shaded them for ease of reference.
Slowly, slowly, yavash, yavash! ~
I traced my elemental motifs down onto the page. THEN I realised I had run out of paper… because I had, erroneously, been so eager to start that I was already drawing elements based on the original manuscript, and eventually measuring the original manuscript for its own ratios and dimensions, before I’d measured the dimensions of my page! I don’t recommend this as a course of action. It has its own beauty, of course, that of serendipity – I was now truly forced not to copy but to definitely create (not even recreate!) my own carpet page. So I did.
Or just work on a large enough sheet of paper that it doesn’t matter if you have to make dimensional adjustments later!
My happy accident took me down a different path – that of having to think for myself. There is a danger with traditional art in that it is easy, through copying, to let oneself become passive – I think this is a great danger and can lead to slavish copying and, worse, ‘colouring in’ (!!!). No – don’t be lazy. Do the hard thing. Keep it active. Keep thinking and analysing and feeling.
I’m studying this image for the upcoming autumn show that I’m organising called Carpet Pages:
It’s by Mulla Ala Bik Tabrizi, Iran, second half of the 16th century, 15 x 10 18 in. (38.1 x 25.7 cm). I flicked through tons of images of Carpet Pages (which it itself an ongoing pleasure-task!) and this manuscript just stuck out at me, calling me somehow… to say it is beautiful is an understatement, so it goes beyond that – it is very even in tone, motifs in the margin flowing in and out of each other in a regular way (unlike other carpet pages which I will feature in future posts, which have motifs sometimes superimposed seemingly without rhyme or reason on top of one another, which is a different kind of beauty) and the geometry inside the carpet box is again regular, ordered, steady. There is nothing ‘fast’ about this manuscript. It is calm and collected and has a personality that I aspire to for myself. So in a way this piece chose me, too. It’s what I need right now and it found me. What you seek is seeking you.
I’ll go through the process as I make my own Carpet Page inspired by this manuscript, as it is an extremely complex work that requires detailed analysis and breakdown. It will require several posts in the interests of keeping each one readable.
The only ‘flaws’ I would say – and this is entirely down to personal taste and doesn’t in any way undermine the finished manuscript – are a) the fact that for me there are one too many trellised borders and b) the sharafeh, the merlons, the finials that poke out of the margins, are a tad too flimsy and the choice to do extremely simple ones seems like a bit of a hasty afterthought. Then again, one could argue that the extreme simplicity offsets the extreme complexity of the rest of the piece… but, as a practitioner, I’ve been there. Finishing a piece is hard. When you’ve done 98% of the work, the remaining 2% can be the toughest to complete, and sometimes, one just sighs and says ‘oh well, let’s chuck it all in, do whatever to finish it, I’m done with it, I just want to finish this and go and have a cup of tea.’ And that attitude – which I have (and which needs changing) – causes one to sabotage one’s work right at the very end. There’s simple, and simple. I have taken the liberty, then, of streamlining the trelliswork a bit in my own piece that follows; additionally I have chosen, after careful consideration, another simple sharafeh/merlon design to finish off the piece, one that I feel suits it more.
Since this is not an exact recreation, but my own contemporary piece heavily inspired by this traditional work, done in the traditional manner, I allow myself poetic license, and to take whatever steps necessary to create beauty in my own piece, in and of itself. Please note that what follows is not the exact traditional way of doing a carpet page (which is to design the whole thing in a segment and then fold and refold etc and then trace down steadily in sequence) – I am recreating – re-creating – a carpet page from scratch, from the initial designing process right through the drawing stage, plus analysing it critically using my ‘layer’ technique which I developed during this process. I am using this layer technique in order to more deeply understand the underlying geometry and how each section of pattern flows into the next. This will take a bit longer but is worth it to get into the soul of things. It’s the hard way, yes, but ultimately more rewarding as my understanding will be more complete.
Here it is.
I’m a great believer in not slavish copying, but recreating through drawing.
Do the hard thing.
Don’t trace it immediately, redraw it first. You will learn more that way.
I sketched out the rough proportions – I am also a great believer in doing things by eye, at least at first. The ruler comes later. Do it by eye first, and it will feel right. You can fuss later. I got the rough dimensions of the major sections by eye. Half-close your eyes, and you can see at first glance that the original manuscript has certain obvious traits: it’s based on a geometry of 4 (and can therefore be quartered), has 3 protruding marginal motifs and has a white cloudlike band that integrates the whole margin and protruding areas (both flipped and upright). Lay the groundwork; do what’s important first. Prioritise!
Based on this information, and because at second glance (a slightly more detailed look, but not the long lingering looks which come later) the white cloud band is really important as it ties together the whole margin, I decided to tackle that first. I drew my own cloud band then traced it. The traditional way to do this, which I follow and which I did here, is to draw half of it and then mirror it with tracing paper, so you get a symmetrical image. That’s your motif. You can then trace the whole thing upside down and do whatever you like with it as now it’s ‘something’.
I modified the cloudband for the diagonal corner. Now I have 2 elements to work with. Based on these 2 simple elements, I can create the entire margin. Isn’t that amazing? And the whole will be more than the sum of its parts… and we start with such small, simple elements.
This is what I mean by my ‘layer’ technique – I break each part of the pattern down into its constituent elements (think of them like building blocks for the pattern) and analyse them one by one, and then can superimpose them later. In a way it’s the opposite of the traditional way, since I don’t start at the top with the complete pattern segment and continue tracing the same segment until I’ve finished – I do only one layer of pattern elements over the whole piece at once. Then I superimpose another layer of pattern over the whole piece. Then a next, and a next… using different tracing paper for different elements. It is definitely the scenic route!
More later!
~
The wilderness of the mighty Caucasus mountains (Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan) – a beautiful, wondrous corner of the world where the generosity flows as freely as the wine, friends simultaneously burst into polyphonic song when seeing off loved ones at the airport and where my now-husband and I also realised we really could be together. The Caucasus is a spirit, not just a mountain range. My tribute to one of our favourite, best-loved parts of the world ~
