A New Textile: "Egyptian Birds", A Diptych?

Egyptian Birds, hand dyed wool on linen; two panels, each 9 x 9 in.

After writing a blog post about Egyptian Predynastic art, which you can see here, I thought I'd make a textile homage to the stone palettes of the period, which have such beautiful and graceful shapes. They are simple works, so to keep the textile simple I decided to use the technique of cutting the loops of wool to create a low relief effect. I've used this technique twice before––see one example at the end of this post––but not for a few years; it's good to be reminded of it. I hadn't originally planned on a two-panel work, but after finishing Purple Fowl, it seemed that it could use a companion, so I worked up some studies and settled on what became Turquoise Falcon. The problem is, I'm not satisfied with it; the shape doesn't please me, even though I liked the study.

Purple Fowl, hand dyed wool on linen, 9 x 9 in.

I enjoy the full curves of the form, narrowing to in a thin shape. 

Purple Fowl, detail

In this detail, you can see how the cut loops look against the complete ones.

Turquoise Falcon, hand dyed wool on linen, 9 x 9 in.

This piece doesn't have the grace of the other for me; it looks too much like a map of Africa. Of course you can chime in with your opinions, as they're always welcome, but I think that the diptych Egyptian Birds is no more, and that only Purple Fowl remains. 

Ovals (for Robert Mangold), hand dyed wool on linen, three panels, each 16 x 7 in.