Step Twenty Four: Paper cutting dreams

Dearest (imaginary friend) Sylwi!


:-)


Anybody ho-ooommmme?! ha ha! It's a bit weird, knowing that you're not going to be here today! The blog feels a bit empty! {sob}


I miss you. :-(


How is your holiday going? (Just on the crazy off chance that you have a tent with internet access!) :-))))


So... today turned out a bit different than expected. 


About a year ago, I was inspired by a very cute post on the 'elephant with a pen' blog, run by the lovely artista, Barbara!

She drew a picture of how she felt, to illustrate that she had many fresh, exciting ideas buzzing around her head. She called the ideas butterflies. I loved the image it created in my mind and knew exactly how she felt. 


Some days, I have so many diverse ideas flying around my head. If I don't write them down immediately, I forget them... some of them, I'll never remember again. They're just gone.


So, I bought myself a moleskine and began writing the ideas down. Since then, I've always had a project in the back of my mind -  a cover for the book, with a little girl and a net chasing butterflies and the words, "Catch your dreams while you can!"


Today, I was going to try printing or painting the image, but somehow,  when I reached out for the paint box, I picked up my knife instead! ;-) I began cutting the image, using the knife to draw the outlines of the girl. 


At first, I was surprised that the technique was working - it was just like drawing, but with a knife instead of a pen... but then, I began to realise, it was almost like creating a stencil... and I didn't really enjoy it that much. It was brilliant fun to experiment, but I think this is a technique that I won't spend much time with. 

I also experimented with cutting some shapes and bending them outwards (like the ribbons on the girl's dress and the butterflies), to give a bit of movement. 


I didn't like the bow so much, but the butterflies turned out ok - although they're so tiny, they're pretty fiddly.

I had meant to keep today simple, just leaving it as a girl and butterflies, but I got a bit carried away with adding a border! :-) I'm not sure it all goes together very well, but it was a lot of fun experimenting...

As I hadn't planned it before I began (AGAIN!!! When will I learn?!) :-)))) ... the text got a bit squished in and looks a bit odd, but whatever! At least I spelled it right! ha ha! (Don't laugh, spelling backwards is hard!) 


It's no use as a book cover - cut paper is too fragile for that; catching on everything and trapping dust... especially all of those teeny butterfly wings!

Maybe next week, I'll finally follow the original plan and get round to some printing! :-)


See you soooon - hope you're having a fantastic time.
Lots and lots of love
Fi
xx

Step Twenty: Creating with a short attention span - copper, pinholes, paper cutting, butterflies, a bit of everything really! :-)

Dearest Sylwi,


This week, I sort of went with the flow and this is what resulted! :-) I wish I could tell you the reasons, but I don't know what they are! It's just what I felt like creating today.

I always thought that canvases looked better in threes, but today, I liked just the two of them together, mirroring each other. I tried this pattern in a couple of other mediums - sewing onto paper and with material, but these were my favourites. I'm surprised to find that I haven't taken to sewing very much. I thought I would love it, but really, it seems to be paper that I enjoy most (at the moment!) :-)

The first sheet is copper with pin holes and the second, is pieces of cut out paper. I really liked the strong effect that 'drawing' with cut paper gives... I may try some more of this in future. It almost felt like I'd found a style I could work on and develop... I imagine quite strong illustrations, bold colours, but instead of using paint, cutting paper. Maybe, if I worked on it, this could become my 'style'?!! ha ha! :-) Who knows?!

Anyway, my mind wandered (10 minute attention span) :-) whilst I was piercing the copper. I'd tried (without success) to cut a butterfly from copper before, but it's too hard to cut tiny details into the metal. So, I tried it today with the pinhole technique. By piercing the copper with a pin, I was able to give the butterfly some interest.

In this pic, it's perched on a copper can which has been left outside. Originally, the can would have been the same colour as the butterfly currently is, so I'm curious to see what colours the butterfly will go, if I leave it here. Assuming the dogs don't thieve it and break it first! I found my birdie seed marker in pieces on the floor - luckily, the copper part survived, but the twig had been chewed up! :-) 

I like how it looks when you hold it up to the sky. Here it is, stuck to my office window... 

(Darn the sky, no good for photos today - yesterday it was azure blue and today it's tupperware grey! ha ha!) :-)

xx