Gene’s Rug Hooking Blog

This will be the last post of travel shots I took for my rug hooking ideas scrapbook.  They have no theme other than being shots that inspire me, in one way or the other.  You don’t always have to have a reason for saving something other than that it speaks to the artist in you.  (I also use most of these as screen savers.  A different one every day.)

This one needs to be filed in the design overload section.  While I would never want to hook this shot from the main alter in St. Peter’s, the use of ornamentation is dazzling.  I can stare at it for hours and not see everything.

Since the purpose of a Basilica is to make one look up to God, this ceiling certainly achieves that goal. It would also make a fine runner design, for a very big room.  (Go big or go home.)

An intriguing monochromatic study.  I particularly like the way the little spiral on the left inserts itself into the design.

Pantheon = grandeur … Outside

and inside.

Some of my scrapbook idea starters are irreverent …

… other shots are not.

A reminder that one can do a lot with 2 colors … and shadow.

If getting a room with a view, this should be the view!

If making a design, might as well make it memorable.

While this shot may seem an odd choice next the others that have been shown today, this is the one shot I vowed to get in Rome, come hell or high water.    From the Arch of Titus, this scene commemorates the parade of holy relics (seven-branched candlestick from the Holy Place and, probably, temple trumpets seen in the upper right) brought to Rome from the Temple in Jerusalem, by Titus, after he destroyed it in 70 AD.  As someone deeply planted in the Judeo/Chrsitian ethic, and a professor (part time) of Hebrew History and Literature, I find this scene quite disturbing.  Yet, I am grateful that some artist, for whatever reason, left us this permanent, contemporary record of one of history’s greatest works of sacred art.

**(I have added a Fowl Mood page at the top of the this blog page.  It is as an addendum to my article  on that design in RHM’s new pattern book that is making it’s way to auto-ship customers. It shows several photos  I submitted for the article, but which were not included in the final draft by the editorial staff.  Additionally, some photos pictured were incorrectly labeled.  Hopefully, this page will answer questions about the dye techniques used.)

Now, back to today’s blog ….

Few things exude classical design like the Roman Forum.  Therefore, I went with camera.

Not that every photo taken had to be some panoramic view.  There were all sorts of little archeological gems that were worthy of  preservation in a rug design.

After all, it is true to say that this border has stood the test, and ravages, of time.  I think it is quite elegant.

I particularly liked the flower variations in this repeat.

Notice the layers of decorative borders piled up one after the other on this insert –  Egg and dart, leaf, ocean wave, sort of a bud design, back to egg and dart – what a feast of design elements.  (I even like the way the roof tiles look across the top of this photo.)

The forum provides one design study after another.

Of course, I never met a pillar I didn’t like.  Fortunately, the front section of this ancient temple was preserved when it was turned into a church.  Just imagine what it looked like in its heyday.

In another part of Rome, the actual ancient doors to the Roman Senate are preserved at one of the Basilicas.   You have to give this culture credit for their attention to detail and symmetry.  (I think it would be safe to say these doors give new insight into the word patina. They make me want to get out the dye pot.)

This place  has been inspiring artists and  architects for 2,000 years.  It certainly inspired me.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that there is also an old arena nearby.  It’s rather elegant too, in a massive, overpowering, knock the breath right out of you sort of way.

I have always thought that mosaic art has more in common with rug hooking than any other art form.  For that reason, I quickly snapped shots of these examples when going through the Vatican Museum.  They are now safely stored away in my rug hooking idea scrapbook.

This ancient floor section really illustrates my point.  Notice the face and floral parts – they look as if they could be hooked with a large cut.  Colors are laid in almost the same as we would do with rug hooking.  My shots, taken quickly with just natural light, don’t do the rich colors of this piece justice.  However, it is still something worth studying as the variety of colors used by the artist to achieve the face, beard and foliage are quite instructive.

There is a lot going on here, yet the artist is using rather wide brush strokes and not that many different colors of stone. I also like the judicious use of very dark colors for sections of intermittent shadow.

My preference would have been to stop the tour and ask every one to move so I could get better shots.  (I would have also needed a crane to host me up in the air so I could take in the scope of the piece.)  However, a lot can be learned by looking at the simplicity  of the horns, mane and tail.

At the time I shot this, I was concentrating on the dragon.  However, when editing, I think the geometric border could have used a dedicated shot.  Note the depth that is achieved on the “walled” borders with the use of different values of the same color reserved for the corner turns.

My daughter did get a more comprehensive shot and it demonstrates the complexity of this big floor section.

Obviously, a fine cut mosaic.  However, the shading, while simple, is very effective.  Sort of a less is more approach.

My favorite flowers are the orange tulips on the right hand section.  Pink, yellow. orange, red and rust families were used to make just those two flowers.  The light/dark shading on the basket isn’t too shabby either.

Although most of my comments today have been on the more decorative aspects of the various mosaic works shown, there was something particularly soothing about this simple section.  While I love this leopard – another less is more example – the stark, pearlized background and accompanying twist border against a dark jeweled outside frame, really cause this piece to pop.  (It was more vivid in person than this photo shows.)  What an endorsement for straight background hooking to set off a dramatic piece!  The white pieces actually had tints of very pale pink, blue and green – almost mother of pearl colors – which I believe a good dye session could produce.  The straight hooking was continued in the outside border with just a twist. A similar dark background could be achieved with a spot dye in mid-night blues, blacks, purples and deepest greens.  One final question … in the bottom corner, in the smallest of Latin letters, although I can not be sure … but, I thought I saw the letters BLK. You don’t suppose it’s from an ancient ancestor of my friend Elizabeth?

If you are wondering why I am spending a few days showing you the photos I took on my recent trip, which are now stowed away in my rug idea notebook, I thought it might be appropriate to cite a precedent for such artistic behavior.

One of the great works of art we were able to see when in Rome was Raphel’s The School of Athens. Unfortunately, I could not back up far enough to get a good shot of the entire, wall-sized, fresco.  It is particularly interesting to me that Raphel used the likeness of Leonardo da Vinci to portray Plato – the old man in the center, with a long white beard and red cloak.

Besides da Vinci,  Raphael also managed to use the image of Michelangelo to portray  Xenocrates from Ephesus, and then stick his own face in another grouping off to the side –  not shown in my larger shot.  All told, he used the faces of several of his contemporary artist acquaintances for the various historic personalities depicted in this painting.  Apart from the fresco, all these artists had one thing in common – they kept idea notebooks!  Of course, they often used live models.  However, whenever they saw something particularly wonderful – a great piece of  Greek or Roman sculpture or the latest work of a rival – it got sketched and popped into their idea folder.

Laocoon is a good example.  Carved by a team of  3 sculptors from Rhodes about 25 BCE, it had been brought to Rome in 69 CE by the Emperor Titus, then covered up by the dust of time and war.  When Michelangelo was in the midst of painting the Sistine Chapel, the statue was rediscovered.  Michelangelo was called in to validate the discovery and even acted as an agent for the Pope, buying it for the Vatican collection.  Bits of the statue’s design – torso twists and placement  … undulating serpent –  eventually ended up in various sections of the Sistine ceiling design.  No one would accuse Michelangelo, da Vinci or Raphael of  lacking creativity.  Still, they constantly drew anything they saw that sparked their artistic imagination and popped it in their notebooks.  Later, some of those sparks would provide the necessary inspiration they might need to produce something completely different.  If it worked for them, it just might provide good motivation for us as well.  I am not talking about stealing designs – I am talking about being inspired by them.

Most of the things in my trip  Idea Book aren’t quite as sublime as the works of Michelangelo or Raphael.  However, I did see plenty of things that got me thinking about rug designs.  For example, as expected, Rome was full of  round Roman arches.  Usually, those arches were filled with iron grill work.

I probably went by 100 examples before I started noticing all the different ways those round arches were filled.

In fact, I could do a book on Roman half-rounds!  They make me want to design a rug.

Design ideas from grill work were not limited to half rounds.

They  weren’t even limited to geometrics.  (This one is actually from Florence.)

One could anywhere in Rome (or Florence) and, in an afternoon, fill a design idea book just by snapping shots of the decorative work that abounds. Some of it was quite bold, stretching the length of grand buildings.

Other bits were quite small.  Even so, if the work of the original artist was such that I found it to be inspiring, it went in my idea book.  But, the longer I was in Rome, the more I could feel the influence of Michelangelo and Raphel …

… I even found my inspiration for  a portrait rug.