DUCK FRIEZE (WAP #15 Inspired By Egypt)

The inspiration for this week's art project is a huge linear frieze on the exterior of Abyddos temple in Egypt showing a mass of flapping ducks.

Close examination of the photo shows the zigzags indicating the stylized effect of water and a perimeter framed by lotus plants.  Looking even closer there are solid lines that may indicate that the ducks are trapped.  That's probably why the scene is so noisy with wings!

I also noticed that the ducks seemed to fall into 3 specific designs, each being used in both directions.  This led me to wonder whether stencils were used to create this scene of avian agitation!

What was I going to do with this? 

Having no real sense of direction, I started by drawing the 3 bird shapes I'd seen on the frieze & then ...embracing my inner Matisse... I cut these out to use  as stencils.

Finding a piece of scrap paper larger than an A4, but smaller than an A3, I started to randomly place  my ducks & stenciled around them, over lapping some to eventually build up a mess of duck-like lines.

Using whatever I had to hand, I framed A4 size sections, which I then photographed with my phone.  I wanted my 'design' to have some of each of the stencils as well as enough negative space to allow the background to show through.  I knew that there was some zigzag fabric in my stash somewhere that would be perfect for the background of this piece.

I took 7 different A4 shots & eventually settled on 1 to develop further.

At this stage I really wasn't sure what 'develop' would mean!  Was I going to stitch & cut out the ducks? Were they going to be different colours?  Was I going to do something quite different again????

I opted for something quite different... for me. 
I wanted to create an almost abstract response to the Duck Frieze highlighting the shapes of the negative space (background) & merging the shapes of the birds.  With this in mind I kept my colour choices minimal.

 It was a feat of concentration to sew the outline stitches in!

This is how it looked when I cut away to the background.

This is the end result.
I achieved this by adding more sewn lines completing the shapes of the overlapping ducks & cutting away those bits.  The result is an intriguing mix of lines & forms full of movement.  Every now & then my eye does spot a duck.... before it flies off to more of those irregular shapes.

This is a very different style of work for me & I enjoyed every minute. It retains the energy of the original frieze without the sense of being trapped.