Category Archives: Postcards

Savage Tribes – Day 20 of 30 In 30

Primitive postcard. 4 x 6 watercolor and pen on 140 lb. cold press paper. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

“Man’s earliest ambition is to create. Man appears everywhere impressed with the beauties of nature which surround him, and seeks to imitate to the extent of his power the works of the creator.” These two statements start off Chapter 1, Ornament of Savage Tribes in The Grammar Of Ornament by Owen Jones.

Hands in the air if you agree.

OK, you can put them down now.

Owen Jones might not have fully appreciated the ornamentation he found in each culture, but he did understand the shared need for expression.

I may not agree with all of his suppositions, but I am so thankful that he felt the need to produce this collection of design elements. What a fun (and work!) it must have been, to visit each locale, collect the specimens, and then produce each sample. I mean really, I would have volunteered in a heartbeat!

The Grammar of Ornament, Owen Jones

Each postcard I have created feels so incomplete to me. There is just no way to capture the essence of a culture in a 4 x 6 inch area. I want to include them all. I had some fun with this design in Photoshop. Just by changing the Hue/Saturation setting, I came up with several different versions.

What do you think?

What hue are you?

Looking at this now, I think I need to go back in and add some color in the “woven” section. I didn’t get that quite right.

Owen Jones and The Ornament of the Savage Tribes

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Moresque Ornament – Day 19 of 30 in 30

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Moresque Postcard. 4 x 6. Watercolor and pen on 140 lb. cold press paper. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

Owen Jones considered the Alhambra unsurpassed perfection. His chapter on Moresque ornament in The Grammar of Ornament shows designs from only this location. He devoted more attention to this one building than he did to many of the entire civilizations he addressed in the book.

The Moors followed a strict set of principles in their constructions. This same was true of their use of color. The laws of nature were observed, and color was used to further define architectural features. Literal depictions of living forms were forbidden by their faith. They focused on geometric patterns. Written inscriptions were ever-present as a reminder that no matter how inspiring the building created, “there is no conqueror but God.”

I love the warm, earthy tones of the plates in the book. I added a bit of the coast to my palette. I started this design in Photoshop, creating the pieces as I would for a fabric repeat.

Pattern pieces

My awe for complicated repeating patterns remains intact. I spent more time trying to duplicate this pattern, than I did painting it. And this is simplified from what appears in the book. Once I had the pattern set, I transferred that to the card, and applied color.

This painting lacks perfection, but it is pretty.

I was hoping to get ahead on the challenge today. I should have known better than to take on a mathematical design and think it would be quick. Oh well, I still had fun!

Persia – Day 18 of 30 in 30

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Persian Postcard. 4 x 6 watercolor and pen on 140 lb. cold press paper. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

According to Owen Jones in The Grammar of Ornament, Persian ornament is much less pure, and in great want of elegance. His chapter on it is rather short. Throughout, he is comparing Persian designs to those of the Arabs and Moors.

I think he did a great disservice to the designs of the Persian people. Whether that was due to a lack of knowledge, or simply a lack of interest, I am not sure. From the book; The culture of Persia may have seemed very exotic to the Victorian public, but the same could not be said of its political status. The British empire was at its height.

There are six plates included in the chapter. Each flooded with floras. Lavish and curly cue. Bold geometric tiles with abstracted floral motifs. Simple single stem repeats.

This card highlights designs from a Persian manufacturer’s Pattern-Book. Jones helped pioneer modern color theory. I am a little baffled that he could not find more to talk about on these designs. While some of them do remind me of “country cottage” they are flooded with warm, earthy color, and many are quite complex. Maybe it is the over abundance of feminine flowers that didn’t quite appeal to Jones.

The Textile Blog does not have an article on Jones’ Persian chapter. I am including links to some of the others.

Owen Jones and the Renaissance
Owen Jones and the Ornament of Savage Tribes

I have also found Illuminated Books has scans of some of the original pages from the book. Animation Resources has full color scans of the plates in the book, but the site’s authors have made their own comments on the content. They have laid it out on one page, and you can quickly scroll through it.

I am so glad for the new friends I have made in this challenge. Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog and to share your opinion. I am glad that so many of you are enjoying these postcards I have created. Now I know that the recipients will enjoy them as well.

Have a happy weekend everyone!