This is ‘a style of mosaic tilework’ see here found in various countries including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia. I’ve not been to any of these places, and this is based entirely from pictures, but that has not stopped me in the past!
This is the sketch, with the pattern and colours exactly as they are in the book I took it from (‘Arts and Crafts of Islamic Lands’) so that I could focus on the shapes. Oddly enough I realised that this previous sketch based on a video by Mohamad Aljanabi is exactly the shapes in this one! Obvious in retrospect.
I tried out the techniques I had been experimenting with to get shiny layers, using heavy gloss and aquapasto. Really, heavy gloss makes very little difference (in the way I use it?) and aquapasto seems much better for what I want. Basically, it’s back to gum arabic :/
In any case, made some unforced errors in this one, including drawing ‘inner shapes’ in pencil that then show through the layers. IT looks interesting, but perhaps distracting. With these mediums, the paint does tend to be more blobby, so can spill out of the sides.
As usual, found here