Cooling down in the english rain and wind, allows clearer thought and physical work to begin again. Although it was a very intense trip to the Alhambra (due to the heat and vast swathes of tourists, like me), I am glad I went as it confirmed my inutition re the colour palette of the structure and surround- desert colours- sand, gold,rust, red, black, enclosed in a deep cerulean blue. Also the use of geometry and the stilness and beauty of the spaces as you look up was inspiring.
The focus now is on the finishing of the roof. Willow is doing this as we had to focus on sewing it together and ribbon weaves when Raphaella and I went up last week, and it's slow, laborious work which takes longer than any of us realised. But, as the Sufis say 'Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet'.
I met with Hattie again and have chosen a bright cerulean blue voile for the surround, which will enclose the space like a transparent sea and allow the public to glimpse and be glimpsed at intervals as they pass the space. We are going to try out a couple of meters of this on a scaffold when we go up to the studio next week to pre-weave the roof. We hadn't planned to pre weave the roof but when we got it up and saw and felt the height, it became obvious that its not practical or possible to do this in public. So I am compliing texts, like poetic fragments, to write on the top section. I will use this to create an intention for how the work will live when it is finally put together for the 7th October.
