HUZZAH!

Yesterday, I received a notice from the Church History and Art Museum that my papercut, The Beginning of Enlightenment, had been accepted into their Eighth International Art Competition. I was thrilled to say the least. This papercut depicts the story of Alma and the sons of King Mosiah when the angel stops them on their way to pursecute the church in the Book of Mormon. I came up with this one in the middle of sacrament meeting last year. I was happy with the way it turned out. I guess someone else was too. I'm glad that they will have a papercut in it this year. They had one in the last competition, too. (not one of mine) The exhibit will be on display at the Conference Center in Salt Lake March 20, 2009 through October 11, 2009.

Faces Are Scary

Faces are scary things to cut. You may have noticed that most of my papercut figures are seen from behind or the faces are full silhouettes. That is because I am intimidated by all the little details that come with a face. If you don't get them right it ruins the look of the whole piece. It so much easier to just avoid it all together. However, some days I tell myself that I shouldn't give into my fears but should take a leap and try it. This is my latest attempt. I don't think it is too bad , but I should keep working on it. It helps to have some strong shadows on the face otherwise, it gets sticky deciding what shadows to leave on and what to take off to get the results that I want. Like I said before, it is SCARY.

Dwarf Versus Fish

Here is another fairytale for you. I find it fun to try to find a different way to illustrate the stories. Tales are easier than others. This from the tale "Snow White and Rose Red" by the Brothers Grimm. In the story, Snow White and Rose Red, two sisters, befriend an enchanted bear who is looking for the enemy who changed him into a bear and took his family's fortune. While helping the bear, the girls keep running into a dwarf in the woods who needs their help to get out of sticky situations such as the one above. He is never grateful for their help, of course, and yells at them for stepping on his bag of jewels. In the end, the bear kills the dwarf who was the one who enchanted him in the first place. The moral of this story could be that you should be careful who you help because they might just get eaten by a bear anyway.

Four-Footed Friends

This month's theme for ATCs is 'four-footed friends'. Since my four-footed friends have always been cats, that's what I put on them. The first one is based on my cat, Zoinks. She contorts herself into the most uncomfortable positions and still looks relaxed. How does she do that?
My second cut is based on a bigger cut that I did last year where I placed several cats on a stone wall. In this one I felt like I needed to give that cat something to look at. It looks like trouble.
This last one was inspired by another incident perpetrated by Zoinks. One day she came to the back door wanting to be let in. Just as I opened the door, I noticed that she had a mouse wriggling in her mouth. It was too late to keep her out. She promptly took that mouse down into the basement and dumped it into her food dish as if to tell that rodent exactly what she thought of it.

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is One Day Closer

Valentine's Day is getting closer, so I thought I would post another related papercut. This one is much simpler than I usually try to do. I find that simple is sometimes harder for me to do. Did you ever wonder whether mice smooch on little benches in the park when you are not looking? Well, I didn't either until I cut this. I am calling this "Rodent Romance". Now all it needs is a cat in the background licking its chops.

I Love Fairy Tales

Have I said that I love fairy tales? When I was little, I would go to sleep listening to records with dramatized fairy tales on them. We had 25 different records each with 2 stories on them. For years, we kids could expect to receive a new one on birthdays and Christmas. As we grew older, I continued to listen to them especially when I was having a hard time getting to sleep. I recorded some on tapes and took them with me to college. I could always count on them to help me relax if only because they reminded me of simpler times in my life. Now my two daughters listen to them every night as they go to sleep.

This papercut is from the story of Rapunzel. I always wondered why she asked the prince to bring her skeins of silk to weave a ladder from. Wouldn't it have been a lot easier to just cut her braid and use that as a ladder to escape the tower just like everyone else? Perhaps Rapunzel had a little too much pride in her long tresses. Well, I guess she paid the price for her pride.