I’ve been holding back recently on sharing a few commissioned projects, because I’ve had to wait on clients making them public first. This particular paper cut piece was commissioned by a dear friend as a secret anniversary gift to his wife. Since the gift is now in her hands, I can share it with you.

Paper being the traditional theme for gifts given in celebration of a first wedding anniversary, I was the perfect person to come up with a unique token of affection. My starting point was to create something from paper and take inspiration from the family Coat of Arms the couple had created for their wedding last year.

I chose to create an abstract composition with layers and textures of paper, and minimal colour. The shield with intertwined letters (representing both their last names) was taken directly from the Coat of Arms. I used a print out of this as the template to cut out the letters, which I then backed with black card stock to help the S and T stand out boldly against the white.

The background is a three-dimensional design freehand cut from a single sheet of card stock and backed with black paper. The crest is attached to float on top. The foreground part of the work is also one sheet of white card stock, but for this one I drew out the leaves before cutting. I almost never pre-draw a paper cut design but in this instance I needed to plan it out first and then cut.

Once each piece of the composition was completed I mounted them into a wood cradle panel painted with a light wash of white acrylic paint, and it was ready to hang in its new home.

Happy Anniversary to my dear friends James and Monique. May there be many happy years to come…