Diane Savona

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Ephesus: the ongoing battle

The ancient library of Celsus, at Ephesus (commonly called the Library of Ephesus) has been on my list of tablets-to-make since I started this series. But the library will not cooperate. No matter how many variations I try, it just doesn't work. I started with a photo taken when I visited with my sister:

Photoshopped her out, straightened & tightened the composition:

Nice image, but how can it possibly work as a tablet? So I took one of the many, many online images:

Yes, straight ahead, good clear photo...

Spend a few hours turning the photo into B&W line images...

Fill it with all the various scrolls and books and Gutenberg and....god, what a mish-mash. Let's take out the people and just go for the different types of writing:

OK, Diane, just because the image is completely wrong, unworkable, that doesn't stop you from spending hours playing with the lettering, does it?  When I went back to this image (after abandoning it for months) I knew I would never want to stitch all those words. As the series has progressed, I'm trying to use fewer words in the tablets. It's better art, leaving more unsaid, and I don't enjoy stitching the letters (the images are much more fun, for me). 

So.....get rid of all that verbiage, and maybe crop it:

This one needs to go back into the file. Right now, I'm sick of it.