On the first day we arrived in Istanbul, we fought against jetlag & the humidity by visiting the Mosaic Museum. One of the most impressive mosaics we saw was this eagle killing a snake.
Both of these creatures are rich in symbolism throughout the various cultures of the world, but in this case the combination of the two is supposed to represent 'light over darkness'. The use of that particular wording can be interpreted to refer to colour tones, & THAT has led to all sorts of ridiculous interpersonal conflict throughout history. Therefore, I am giving it an alternative label... 'Good over Evil' !
In the Archeological Museum, I found another example of this motif & I particularly liked the range of marks the sculptor used to give the impression of texture.
Therefore it was this ancient marble slab that was my source of inspiration for this week's art project.
It is one thing to look at something & be excited about the texture, it is quite another to draw it. As I have said many times before, drawing is visual note-taking. It requires my eye to truly focus on the details as well as the whole & try to represent what I see onto paper.
In the process of working up a design, I knew I couldn't fit the whole eagle & snake into A4 sizing, but I wanted to use some of those patterns & I wanted to reproduce the heads of both characters. Eventually I had a design I was satisfied with & went in search of appropriate fabrics.
It took little time to choose for both the eagle & the snake. I was very happy with a paisley pattern in blacks & greys that I thought would look great as the snake's skin. My difficulty was finding a background colour. It was quite by chance that I came across a soft clean blue. I chose this one because it looked right, even if I wasn't too sure about the busy pattern. With my fabrics ironed & layered up, and the outlines sewn in...it was time to pick up the scissors and start cutting back!
Here's how it went....
I love the textural patterns in this piece & am very happy with how it has turned out. The only thing I'd change is to use a dark grey rather than black as the snake & beak outlines. The tonal values are a bit too close, which detracts from texture of it's patterning.
I love the shape of the eagle's head & how I've done it's neck feathers. And even that patterned background works for me, so all in all...a very good result from a day in which I felt as if I were sleep walking!!!
Next week will be my last WAP inspired by Istanbul....I wonder what I'll choose to be inspired by! Until then...happy creating!
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