FIELD NOTES / ETH / Eastern Africa
Ethiopia
Monolithic churches & excavated depth.
START WITH A PLACE
Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela
Lalibela’s rock-hewn churches are made by cutting into and around the rock. The ensemble remains a place of pilgrimage and worship, joining extraordinary construction with continuing religious life.
Read the source UNESCO World Heritage CentreA CLOSER LOOK
A study in mass and surface.
Compare the top edge of an excavated trench with the church mass left inside it. Draw the removed material as carefully as the structure that remains.
An editorial observation prompt, grounded in the reference above.
WORKING COLOUR
A palette to begin with.
Five editorial tones for this surface family. Use them as a starting point for a study; they are not measured samples from the site.
Limestone paper#eee7d8oklch(0.929 0.021 85.945)
Warm sediment#c6ad86oklch(0.760 0.060 78.678)
Earth ochre#a36545oklch(0.568 0.092 47.550)
Weathered slate#657d79oklch(0.569 0.029 184.084)
Carbon ink#282b2boklch(0.286 0.004 196.917)