Author's Note: This is Egyptian Courtyard image applied with clone pattern tool, and clone tool to Escher's Relativity. There were no other external sources used.
This picture reminded me of Escher's sketch titled eschers relativity So I had the idea to use the photo to photoshop that sketch. My goal was not about doing the best colorization of "Escher's Relativity", rather it was about how well could I use the elements of the "Egyptian Courtyard" to bring life to Escher's drawing.
Additionally, I cut and pasted individual elements such as light fixtures, and full doors, the stained glass, planters etc.
Most of the work came from the tedious method of making tiles out of the Egyptian courtyard image, using various scraps of marble and plaster, and then figuring out how to use the right blending mode to maintain the proper shading to keep the 3D look that Escher achieved by running shaded blocks into each other. I used a lot of paths, and masks, and used curves to get the right darkness on each plane. This was great lesson in blending modes, and the cloning and pattern tool. I resisted adding additional sources to make it look more realistic, because I wanted the piece to be about using only the one image.
I have added sources of both Escher's uncolored version, and the various pieces I used from the courtyard. So you can see what I used to work with. IT took a LONG time, all day both days.
I hope you like it!
sources
sketch found here
eschers relativity