Going Outside

This is the final one done for AAF Battersea. It was a longer haul to the finish line, than I thought it would be.

I've had a better go at describing the folds where the fabric is double in places. The next plan is to do lots of smaller pieces - both experimental in ideas and process. I never thought I could stick with one material for any length of time. But I've developed a real fetish for paper.

I'm off to London to the see the show on Saturday and also to go to Falkiners, the best paper shop in the world.

In progress for Battersea AAF

My latest paper cut in progress. I'm doing this post to try and gee myself on a bit. 

The grid like pattern is a taking a bit more patience than I anticipated. This is part of the first half almost finished.

The second half has more folds so it should take a bit less time.  In theory...

Arts trail part 2 - new things

My latest things. Finished and framed.

Small appliance 1

This is one of two pieces using a single line/cable to draw a doillie.

And a companion piece for the first curtain... 

Indoors, looking out

...Together with the first one. I probably have one more of these left to do. 

I'm also working on some completely new things. The ideas come thick and fast but it all takes time...

Health and safety

I've just finished another curtain piece, so I thought I'd post a couple of work in progress pics.

I'm not sure how I managed to do the other ones without a mask. I make the holes in the paper with a soldering iron. The fumes aren't that bad but my head is about 8 inches from the paper. After a very short while on this, my nose was streaming an my eyelids were a bit crispy! I ran out and bought this mask.

The less enjoyable bit is picking out the all extraneous tiddly bits  which weld themselves to the paper. I do it in front of the telly. Its both painstaking and boring, but worth it to get to the moment when I can cut it away from the template.

Its framed and ready so will be on the Artwork page soon.

Béatrice Coron

I found Béatrice Coron last year whilst researching paper cutting. Her website is a hub for links to other artists. Prolific and poetic, but what looks at first whimsical, reveals a harder edge with a bit more scrutiny.

This is how she begins her TED lecture...

"I cut stories. So my process is very straightforward. I take a piece of paper, I visualize my story, sometimes I sketch, sometimes I don't. And as my image is already inside the paper, I just have to remove what's not from that story." 

You experience a sheet of paper as a surface on which to put a drawing or painting. Its the place that the work of art inhabits, a surface which must be added to to become more than itself.

By removing material piece by piece to reveal the work of art, the paper becomes a 3 dimensional thing. More than a surface, it is the artwork.

I describe my pictures as "things", not work or pieces.

She too, uses Tyvek paper, but she paints it black. Unlike many silhouettes, hers are "a wash of black", varying in density and depth.