The buildings in Barcelona, too, all over; mostly sharply contrasting colors, including black and white. I was over there in 1985 and asked our tour guide about it, and the Moorish influence on architecture and culture, and he clammed up sharply almost immediately. :-/ Uwk
Ooooh, I wish I could use this picture I have of the dragon on this archway, but I can't. It looks pretty cool, don't you think? I got to change it though, I just used it as an example image for the mosaic picture.
Beautiful! And an interesting change from the usual triumphal arches we always see, like in Rome or France, where they're usually just carved marble and that's it. Uwk
At least back in 1985, it still was a touchy thing over in Spain in general, after all those centuries of Moorish rule. I will say, though, that the Moors were very tolerant of other religions, dealing just fine with Christianity and Judaism, and were renowned for their centers of learning in the arts, science, math, literature, you name it. Any number of Spanish cities were known for their scholars back then, but one of the first things that happened after the Reconquista in the late 1400s was that anything that smacked of the Moors was shut down, the Muslim and Jewish citizens, no matter how important they might've been to the country, were kicked out or ordered to convert, etc., etc., etc. (the reluctance of people to do so and the "false conversions" others found out about probably led to the Spanish Inquisition starting up), and it took Spain quite a while to recover from that, imho. Columbus's discoveries that were funded by the co-ruler, Queen Isabella, very shortly afterwards probably helped with that recovery... It was rumored that Columbus's ancestors, not too far removed, were in Italy because they had to leave Spain. Later on, their kid came back to Spain, and the rest is history. ;-> Uwk
LOVE them. . but the dragons aren't really on them??? Darn! Could you make it like a sketch in the design? I mean we do have items with designs in them. . . .
Jerry, that is gorgeous, but I'm not sure I'm feeling the bottom part. Maybe instead you could carry the dragon's body wrapped around like it is continuing down the arch and just continue to fill in the background with the same background in the top dragons background? Or, because it appears the arch pokes out a bit more at the bottom, have some rocks there as if they are blocking the rest of the dragons body, and continue to keep the upper background at the bottom? I love the color scheme and the mosaic pattern, and I love the design in the arch and trim. In fact, you could stop the mosaic at the bottom of the top dragons and have the bottom portion of the arch be stonework instead of mosaic and it would look beautiful. Edit: Or even continue the sandstone mosaic pattern all across the bottom section instead of putting the creatures and background there, so it's all one solid color but keeping the mosaic pattern.
In fact, this one, to me is perfect. I absolutely love it just as is. Edit: In fact, looking at this, you could build some walls that end right after the sandstone trim design at the top of the bottom section, and a corner section like this and a gate to fit the arch, and we could use it to wall in our custom-built city.
Maybe with something clay or stone like these spikes along the top of the wall? This picture is obviously very modern, but am thinking something that would help to keep whatever is on the inside of the wall secure, whether it be a city, a villa, or whatever. Pointy objects would be the ideal choice. They could be colored black, or blue like the mosaic tiles, or even that light purplish color that is in the faces of the dragons.
You all know how they most often require me to change things I make which are simple. They typically require me to add more decorations or detailing. So, if they don't like the way I've submitted this, I will try something else.
Aww, that's too bad. Even if you were to make it flat and kind of like a painted on surface that just looks 3-D?
Love the arch - don't like the creatures on the lower half. My first thought was, why are there dinosaurs on a dragon arch?
I think the mosaic tiling is decorative and unique in and of itself, and shouldn't need any further detailing, but I do understand your concerns, Jerry. I hope they will approve the arch but I think it would sell better without the dinosaurs on it. What about just shading the mosaic tiles as they go down, until they blend back into the sandstone color, to where the blues fade out?
I already submitted it, lets wait and see whether they approve it or not, if they don't I may have to do more than just change the images.
As far as the dinosaurs go, I think those (and the dragon, too?) are supposed to be from The Great Divide, where the Coldain are? I vaguely remember something about a dragon whilst hunting there with Uwk, but since I never went in for that instance, I'm not sure of the backstory. ;-> Uwk
It is meant to be a painted tiled imagery, similar to mosaic images you might have seen in real life.
