Egyptian Glory

This collage is a 5x5" Aquaboard, with hand marbled paper, and an image of Sphinx of Amenhotep III, 1390-1352 BC, which is clipped from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, calendar. (A collage artist who uses images from other sources should also cite their source).

This collage includes three of my favorite elements. 1)Complementary Colors, 2)Marbled Paper, 3) Egyptian theme.
I am thrilled with how these elements came together and I think it captures the grandiosity of the time of the Pharaohs, in a 5x5" board. For added interest, I applied a marbled sun to the corner, allowing it to radiate off the corner. The sun cannot really be contained after all.

The color scheme consists of the complementary color blue and the secondary color orange. These two colors work together because if you combined them, they would create a grayscale or neutral tone, thus canceling each other out. They are in opposition on the color wheel, which therefore makes them complementary. This is the language of color theory. For the purely aesthetic viewer, they just look good together!

The background of this collage was made with a piece of paper I marbled myself. I absolutely adore paper marbling, as no two pieces will ever be identical. The history of paper marbling dates from the 900s China, through 15th century Turkey and Persia, to the 17th century of Europe. The techniques are essentially still the same, utilizing pigment and oil floated on water. The ingredients of the pigments and oils have changed according to geographic available resources and technology.

Amenhotep III (1386-1349 BC) was a pharaoh from the 18th Egyptian Dynasty (1570-1293 BC) who was a prolific builder and a relatively benevolent ruler. His reign lasted almost 40 years and was both stable and prosperous. He took the throne of Egypt at the early age of 12. This image of his Sphynx is resplendent in travertine or Egyptian alabaster. The actual dimensions of this statuary are l. 25.1 cm (9 7/8 in); w. 13.3 cm (5 1/4 in); h. 13.3 cm (5 1/4 in). The Met description labels the item as possibly a model of a temple.

Please share your feelings and feedback about this piece.

In peace,
Christina B.

The full image of the sculpture is here: