Roosting Chickens

 Here is one of my latest projects. A couple of weekends ago, I decided to try my hand at chickens.

 The chickens were fun to cut even though the feathers were a little tricky.

For my final piece, I glued the two chickens down on the paper together. By cutting the birds separately, I could play around with positioning them just where I wanted them. This  piece will be a part of the Art Squared auction in Spring City, Utah on the Saturday before Memorial Day.

This Year's Neule

It has been awhile since I have posted, but Christmas is just around the corner. That calls for taking a few minutes to cut a new neule design. This year it is an angel singing. It is a really nice to have a new addition hanging in my front room. I'm thinking that next year I will have to add a new string for neule hanging. It is getting a little crowded. I hope that your holidays are merry and bright this year!

Hanging Out with Friends

Here is a papercut that I cut a little while ago based on an old photo. I wanted to try something a little bit different by leaving the black paper around the outside. I didn't think about the staples that I used to hold my pattern on top of the black paper, however, so I ended up with staple holes along the outside. Fortunately, those are easily covered up with a mat.

It is About Time for Another Papercut

It has been awhile since I have posted anything. I just can't believe how busy life has been lately. I finished this papercut this week for the Art Squared auction at Spring City, Utah over Memorial Day weekend. I had originally planned to place it over a watercolor wash, but I changed my mind when I was finished. I think it looks like a doily.

This Year's Neule

 

This month has been busy, but there is always time for a neule. I was glad to fit in at least one. I picked a less traditional theme for this year's creation. It is now hanging up with my others.      

Snow White

The days are becoming colder, and it made me think of this fairy tale. This is the queen, Snow White's mother, sitting at her needle work on a cold winter's day. She pricked her finger and three drops of blood fell on the snow on the ebony window sill. For some reason, this made the queen think of her unborn child and come up with the name Snow White.

I hope that all your holidays are festive this year!

Finally Another Fairy Tale

It has been awhile since I have done a fairy tale cut. This is a scene from The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Here the soldier is given a magic cloak that will make him invisible in exchange for sharing his food with a fairy disguised as an old woman. With it the soldier will be able to follow the 12 princesses and discover why their dancing shoes are wore out every night. The lesson of this is that you should always share the last of your food with whatever senior citizen happens to cross your path. Good things will result.

Independence Hall

Last month, my family spent a week visiting some the sights on the East Coast with some of our friends. One of the places that we saw was Philadelphia. I thought that it would be nice to remember our trip with a layered papercut of Independence Hall.

A Wedding Present

    Another wedding is coming soon. My oldest nephew is getting hitched in a couple of days. Since the last wedding present went over so well, I decided to do another cut for a wedding present. I just noticed that in both cuts the guy has his hand in his pocket. Why is that?

The Young Artists

       It has been awhile since I posted any papercuts. I have been going through a dry spell the last few months. Hopefully, things will improve soon. Lately, I have been watching a lecture series on the artists of the Italian Renaissance. That had some influence on this piece that I cut last week. It is 10 in. X 10 in., and will be part of an art auction held in Spring City, Utah over Memorial Day weekend. The two artists are based on a sketch that I did of two of my children last October.

Another Bird

A couple of years ago I cut a picture of a robin in a tree. My husband really liked that piece, and he was sad when I sold it. He has wanted me to do another one since then. This week I finally got around to it. This time I made it a close up of the robin. The robin was cut separately and then glued onto the branch. I made the bird gray so that I could enter it into a black and white art show. I really had fun with the bird. When I get the cut back, I am going to see how it will look in a floating frame.

Happy Couple

My youngest brother-in-law was married last Thursday. I made this papercut for them based on the photo on their invitation. I had a hard time deciding whether to include facial features or not, but in the end I decided to keep it simple. It is a little creepy looking though.

Castle Cuts

I cut this castle picture for my mother-in-law, who loves castles, for Christmas. I was just happy that I managed to find enough time to finish it before the holiday.

It Is the Time of the Year for Neules

One of the funnest things that I have done this time of the year lately is cutting more neules to hang up in my living room.

I now have 18 dangling above my Christmas tree. These are this year's additions.

This last one is based on a papercut that I designed several years ago and used as a pattern for a Christmas card that I block printed. I think it makes a grand neule.

I hope that you are enjoying your December so far!

Bowling Beauties

I joined a bowling league a couple of months ago just because I needed something fun to do once a week. (I am a terrible bowler.) Our bowling team is named Bowling Beauties. The name inspired this little papercut. She must have a very strong arm to be able to hold that bowling ball in that classic beauty pose!

Loaves and Fishes

I finally had enough free time to work on a cut that has been in my head for months. This is based on the story of the loaves and fishes in the New Testament. The basket is 15 in. x 15 in. This is probably the biggest piece I have done so far. I was really tired of cutting out fish scales by the time I was done.

Looking at Polliwogs

It has been hard for me to find time to create any paper cuts lately. Maybe, it is because my kids are out of school. I did manage to squeeze in this cut last week. It has been awhile since I have tried anything this detailed. This is based on a photo I took of 2 of my kids looking at polliwogs in a puddle in Zion National Park last year. It was hard to glue down, and a few of the thinner lines broke, which was very frustrating.

Domestic Goddess

Here is another cut made from the decaying book pages. I wish I felt more like a goddess when I am in a domestic cleaning mode.

Bad Dog

This week, I decided to play around with paper. I have an old Zane Grey book that is falling apart, so I thought I would put its decaying pages to good use. The paper was brittle which wasn't a big problem until I tried to glue it down. The glue pulled the tail right off the dog. I like the texture the words and the browning page gives to the papercut, but I think I'll have to keep the glue to a minimum.

Following in Grandma's Footsteps

I have always admired my Grandma Fletcher and her endless creativity. I think that she was a great artist and would love to get up to her standards. This is one of my favorite pen and ink drawings that she did. I love all the character that she added to the trees, water and the boy's hair. Well, I thought that it would make a nice papercut, so this past weekend, I tried to do just that.

I tried to keep to her main design, but I did change a few things here and there to accommodate cutting it from one piece of paper. For instance, I had to make the boy's hair longer so that I could attach his left eye. I also added shoes. It was a challenge to translate the picture. It felt good to stretch some. Overall I was happy with the results.