Friday, June 7, 2013

6/7/13: I’m Back! Smells Like Egypt!

Howdy folks!

Man, has it already been a month since my last post? It has? Well shucks….

Anyways, your favorite miniatures artist is back, and boy did he have some fun over in Egypt! Lets break down the trip, shall we?

Over the course of two weeks, we made it to Cairo, Alexandria, Hurghada (A resort town on the Red Sea), and Luxor. I’ve been inside the Pyramid of Khafre (the second pyramid at Giza), in the tomb of King Tut Ankh Amun, seen his mummy, seen the mummies of Ramses II, Hatshepsut, Seti I, and a gold-leafed mummified child, rode a camel, haggled with vendors, been greeted by two dozen screaming Egyptian children after answering their hellos in Arabic, and met some pretty incredible people, both American and Egyptian. Lets let my pictures tell the story, shall we?

130521_0007

No one ever tells you how close the Pyramids of Giza are to the city of Cairo. The plateau literally juts out of the edge of the city!

130522_0000

Interesting graffiti; I’m interested in it as an artist and, hey, it might make some interesting tags for terrain pieces!

130523_0007

Qaitbay Citadel in Alexandria, constructed on the site of the old Lighthouse of Alexandria. It was built by Sultan Qaitbay to defend against the spread of the Ottoman Turks.

130523_0019

Pompey’s Pillar, the remains of a much larger temple complex devoted to the Apsis Bull.

130523_0044

A lifesaver when your stomache is trying to acclimate to Egyptian food. They have a chicken Big Mac!

130524_0045

Compared to the Pyramids, the Sphinx is kinda a letdown, unfortunately. Its pretty heavily guarded too, so you can’t go down and see it up close.

130524_0030

This was in a pile of debris near the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. Why an alabaster sphinx like that isn’t in a museum is beyond me…

130525_0011

The mosque of Mohammed Ali, within his castle compounds. He was a staunch opponent of the Ottoman Turks.

130525_0029

The Coptic population of Egypt is small, only about 10%, but their sites are just as impressive. This church was built on an old Roman fort, and is literally 100 feet off the ground!

130529_0013

Hieroglyphs of Anubis were all over the walls at the temple of Queen Hatshepsut; the paint has been on the walls for over 3,000 years!

130530_0025

The cartouche of Ramses II (the Great) at Karnak. The temple is incredible because there are so many pharaohs that contributed to its construction. Not 200 feet from this cartouche was two huge obelisks constructed by Queen Hatshepsut.

130523_0016

You can see yours truly in the background. This was after I spoke a little Arabic to this group of school children at Qaitbay Citadel. The kids were so impressed they wanted a picture with me!

130524_0014

And myself and a buddy of mine in front of Ramses II’s colossal statue at Memphis. I had to do the Arafat headwrap, I was in Egypt, after all!

And, if the trip couldn’t have gone any better, I’ve got a gorgeous new girlfriend that makes my knowledge of Egypt look like a Middle School history course! Plus, how many people can say they met their significant other in Egypt?

130531_0003

Whew! Well we’re back, and I’ve been busy working in the studio on some new, fun, projects! Here’s a sneak peak of the Space Wolves add-on I’ve been picking through!

977953_660698123956646_1601916592_o

Alrighty! I’m gonna be out of the studio the end of this weekend and the early week, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be cranking through some more projects! Stay tuned, the painting mojo is back and flowing!

Granesh

No comments:

Post a Comment