Frivolous Fun

I promised you frivolity in my next post.

You can decide for yourself if what I've been doing is frivolous but it has certainly been fun.

 

 

Working in my Frida Kahlo sketchbook, I've returned to paper cuts. I'd forgotten how much I liked them.

 

Stencilled with some coloured paints they produce another interesting page underneath

 

Turn the page over and stencil with black paint and it gives a totally different image.

 

And another page to work on underneath. Interesting left black and white... or painted with coloured inks.

 

Best of all I like the 3 D effect of looking through the paper cuts... on the black side...

 

and on the coloured side.

 

None of this is perfect... the paint has run, there are slodges and smudges but it doesn't matter. The point of the sketchbook is to play with ideas... have fun... be frivolous... and let ideas flow.

 

Which is exactly what has happened as I start to translate the ideas into fabric and thread and I know what I want to make for Frida

 

I'd forgotten how good it feel to immerse myself in ideas and I want to keep the momentum going. Unfortunately I've got some Schemes of Work to produce pretty soon for some upcoming City & Guilds classes... I think my dealine was the end of March! Ooops!

Day Twenty Four

To all my blog followers and readers, I would like to wish you a happy, calm, peaceful and creative Christmas... with much love from me to you.

 

 

And to those of you who have stuck with me over the past twenty four days, thank you.

Day :: Twenty Four

To all my blogging friends...

To those who've sent me Christmas cards, emails and messages, to those who've stuck through all these advent posts (whose idea was that?), to those who've left comments throughout the year and to those who silently read... thank you!

I would like to wish you all a very special Christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful new year.

Looking Through Holes

As I delve deeper into my research I'm looking at photographs of old lace

I'm making drawings of the lace with a fine black pen and then cutting out selected areas. By laying the drawings over red paper the cut away areas stand out. I like the idea of partially revealing what is behind.

I'm still not certain where this is taking me but I'm having fun finding out

***

Thank you for all the good advice and concern about my voice which has now returned.

Progressing.

Lots of pictures and not so many words today as I begin to explore ideas for my MA practice.

Continuing from my initial ideas, I cut more leaves...

gradually expanding the cut sections

to create a lace like structure.

I notice the shadows.

And play with the light to create a lace shadow.

I cut more... and used them as a stencil to print patterns in my sketchbook.

And then used a photocopy of the resulting print as a template to cut out some lacy pages

And loved the way they looked when only partially cut.

And loved them even more as I pulled apart the layers and could see through the holes to the layers underneath.... revealing and concealing.

And thought about the possibilities of this on a larger scale.

I sprayed one of the pages black and liked the way it looked when positioned slightly out of register with the white page. Again, seeing through to layers beneath.

And even the newspaper that was protecting the floor becomes interesting with partially revealed text.

Meanwhile, the original leaf has started to dry out and curl up, creating more possibilities.

So many ideas, so many starting points, I'm not sure where to go next.

A Beginning

I'm starting to think about my MA... both the practice and the research... and I have decided to start from some of the work I was doing for my BA Fine Art module. I'm looking at holes, the missing parts of stories, revelation and concealment , lace and knitting. This has also meant I've returned to paper cutting and I picked up this charming little book by Rob Ryan.

On the back cover there is this illustration of a paper leaf and it got me thinking what if...

I did this with a real leaf.

Which was good fun although not quite as easy as cutting paper!

Given my love of words and text, I couldn't ignore the bits that I cut out...

I then tried cutting a lace pattern from another leaf

Again... it bit of fun.

I've no idea where any of this might lead at this stage but I don't mind because at least I've made a start and we all know that any long journey has to start with a single step.

And I've finished the first page in my sketchbook...

For Mums

To my Mum, to Stewart's Mum and to lovely Mums everywhere...

Happy Mother's Day!

(I've been wielding my scalpel again)

A Cut Above

I received an unexpected package in the post last week. Inside was a paper wallet containing a set of the most exquisite little Chinese paper cuts of the most unimaginable delicacy. Each one tucked into a folded tissue paper page.

They were bought in London's China Town and Cathy has had them in her collection for quite some time... but last week she thought of me and sent them as a gift .

And once again I'm overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of a fellow blogger. They are beautiful and I will treasure them.

And they have inspired me to do a bit more paper cutting of my own... not quite so intricate as the Chinese paper cuts but I'm practising...

Thank you Cathy!

To My Valentine

One of the objects we were shown on our love themed tour of the V & A on Thursday was this delightful carved lapis lazuli pair of Mandarin Ducks, which are symbolic of love in China.

Taking them as my inspiration, I cut my own pair of Mandarin Ducks to make a Valentine card

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hearts and Paper

After my ventures into the world of paper cutting last year (which you can see here, here and here should you be so inclined) I was determined to do more, so when an opportunity to do a class with an expert arose it was too good an opportunity to miss. I spent yesterday at the V & A with paper artist Jessica Palmer... this is just one example of her gorgeous work.

Our day started with a tour of love themed objects in the V & A collection, designed to inspire us. Back in the art studio, Jessica had prepared some drawings of iris flowers for us to try cutting. It was amazing - fifteen participants and we ended up with fifteen different designs.

I wasn't keen on my attempt - I think it looks too much like a stencil, but lessons were learned and we progressed to making cards. A Japanese inspired bird...

And in particular, some loved themed cards... I did one more but you'll have to wait until Monday to see that one!

It was a brilliant day which I can wholeheartedly recommend if you get the chance to either work with Jessica or take a class at the V & A. I cannot recommend my journey home however... I arrived at Kings Cross at 4.45 pm and didn't manage to get on a train until 8.05 pm (signal failure?) and even then it was going to Peterborough not Cambridge so Stewart had to come and find me in the depths of North Hertfordshire. However, I did manage to while away some of the time at the Champagne Bar in St Pancras station... I was desperate you understand... where I spent an hour with three lovely ladies on their way home to Yorkshire. If you're reading... hello Margot, Eileen and Betty!

Day Seventeen

When I was researching paper cutting for my recent degree module, I became fascinated by the work of Sarah Morpeth, especially by some of her pop up style books. Following some photographs of her work I made some simple cuts on white card to work out the structure.

I make no claims of originality here, as these are copies of Sarah's ideas, but I enjoyed the process and decided to try out a colour version as a stand up Christmas card.

And this was the result...

Quite simple cuts, combining holly, ivy and some robins...

but quite effective too. This is certainly something I would like to try more... when I've got the time!

I rather like the shadows it created too.