Its ownership in the recent past has shifted from Egyptian to Israeli and back, meanwhile its barren beauty seems unchangeable.
Egypt is a land of incredible diversity and beauty. Throughout my travels in Egypt I have captured on film many wonderful places. Through my paintings I try to transform a blank canvas into the illusion of a three-dimensional space into which the viewer may step. Photography as a tool allows me to capture as many interesting details as possible. Then in my studio, starting with selected photographs, I paint, sometimes eliminating irrelevant details, making lines stronger, changing the depth and enhancing the colour and quality of light.
I hope to share some of the many beautiful and interesting parts of Egypt. My paintings - unlike photographs - have the entire scene in full focus. From the ground at my feet to the light on the horizon, I paint all components of a painting carefully. 1 try to paint so that the viewers feel they are looking through "a perfect window."
My time in Egypt has been unforgettable; and I have traveled much of it with sand in my shoes.
In the spring of 1999 she held her exhibition "Inspirations of Light" at the World of Fine Art Gallery in Cairo. Included in the exhibition was a floral series of 24 paintings that produce a continuous garden.
Batte wrote:
A land of hot and intense sun.
A land of sand and desert. |
A land of water: divided to the east and west by the river Nile; to the north the Mediterranean; to the east the Red Sea.
A land of rock and the rugged mountains of the Sinai.
A land of extremes, from the barren unforgiving desert to the fertile banks of the Nile and the hot-spring nurtured oases.
Without light, there would be no colour. The light in Egypt burns so intensely; sometimes a hot white, other times a soft yellow, and briefly at sunset a pinkish red. It is through this radiation that our eyes perceive Egypt 's hues. It creates incredible contrasts of highlights and shadows, on a land of incredible diversity and beauty. On film I capture the many wonderful places I visit in Egypt . Beginning with my photographs, I then paint the light and colour of these places. Sometimes I eliminate irrelevant details, make lines stronger, change the depth and enhance the colour and quality of light. But I always try to recreate on canvas the illusion of the actual place so that a person looking at a painting feels that they are in the space.
In a city where the sun mutes painted buildings to dim beige and the dust hides the colours of the trees and plants, Cairo 's flower shops stand out like a splash of wine on a white table cloth. I have always enjoyed the sight of bright flowers on the street or in windows. They have been vibrant oases for the eyes in a dusty city. These flowers, so rich in variety and vivid detail, inspired me to paint their colours. |
