Category: Paper

Paper Cut Commission in 3D

I’ve had a few small commissions to work on for clients who ordered things during Culture Crawl. One of these is this small three dimensional paper cut for a good friend. She liked one of the pieces I had on display but wanted something similar in yellow rather than black.

Paper cut work in progress

Paper cut commission

Framed paper cut commission

The piece is small, only 5″ x 5″ from yellow card stock and backed with a lighter yellow in the framed version (which is too subtle to see in the photos). It resembles wheat blowing in the breeze rather than a wing as these pieces sometimes do. I’m inspired to do more work like this but on a larger scale going forward.

Working with TerraSkin Paper

My friend Jasna of Dear Human has asked me to participate in a small project with a group of Vancouver artists and designers happening in Toronto early next year. The one requirement is for the work to be small and compact, so I’ve decided to use this as an opportunity to experiment with a new paper.

TerraSkin is a fiberless paper made from a combination of mineral powder and a small quantity of non-toxic resin. The paper has a slight gritty feel to one side, but the surface is smooth and easy to work with. It is also said to be water-resistant (not that I’ve tested this out). When cutting the paper there is no resistance to my blade because there aren’t any fibres to catch the edge upon.

terraskin paper cut

The piece pictured here is the first of the small series of work I’m planning to create with this paper. It’s a lovely surface to work with, but I found myself working at a slower pace because it felt too easy for the blade to slip through this smooth paper and make a mistake.

terraskin paper cut

terraskin paper cut

I haven’t tested it out yet, but I’ve read TerraSkin is lovely to work with for printing and paints. I’m curious to test out my acrylic inks on the paper, and I’ll share more once I do so.

Paper Cut Work: Propeller

This is my favourite piece that I’ve made for the Eastside Culture Crawl. I love how the three larger shapes fit together, the flow of the small cut shapes, and the bright colours. I’ve titled this piece, Propeller.

paper cut-2

paper cut-3

As with all of the others for this series, the work is cut from a 14″ x 17″ piece of white drawing paper, and mounted to a piece of 16″ x 20″ Canson Mi-teintes paper. It’s all framed and ready for the Crawl, and I can’t wait to share it in person with people.

paper cut-4

paper cut

My show at Kafka continues until December 1st, and the Eastside Culture Crawl is coming up fast on November 20th to 23rd. And then I’m taking a break….

Paper Cut Work: Pinwheel

I was thinking about a pinwheel when I started this piece and though it ended up not becoming much like an actual pinwheel I am keeping it as the name. When I work on these I often can’t tell how the larger form is going to work until most of the paper cutting is done.

paper cut-6

paper cut-7

The work is a 14″ x 17″ paper cut mounted onto 16″ x 20″ Canson Mi-teintes grey paper. I added the blue circle because as I was framing this I felt it needed a contrasting shape and colour to make the design stronger.

paper cut-8

paper cut-5

This is part of the same series of work I created for my show at Kafka, but it will be on display at my studio location during the Eastside Culture Crawl, November 20th to 23rd.

Paper Cut Dioramas For So Nice

This is work I have been sitting on for months while I waited for the advertisements to be approved by the client and go to print. I was commissioned in June by ReThink Communications to cut and fabricate by hand two illustrated scenes created from ten layers of paper to advertise So Nice soy and almond milk.

Around the time I completed my part of the work I shared two tiny details of a bird and a maple leaf, one from each scene. It gives an idea of the scale I was working at, though both scenes once assembled were approximately 9.75″ high, 3.75″ wide, and 8″ long.

So Nice work
Work in progress of the Yoga pose diorama, just after all the layers were cut.

So Nice work-6
So Nice work-3
Work in progress of the Yoga pose diorama, fully assembled in my studio.

So Nice work-2
Work in progress of the Gardening diorama, just after all the layers were cut.

So Nice work-4
So Nice work-5
Work in progress of the Gardening diorama, fully assembled in my studio.

The paper I worked with was 100lb watercolour paper, which was a heavier paper than I was used to at the time. The agency wanted a handmade look and feel to the pieces, to suit the organic focus of the products. The blank cartons were provided by the client, and skinned in post-production by the agency.

The final version of the artwork used in the advertisement can be viewed in my portfolio.

Paper Cut Work: Keep Apart

This piece was originally going to be a square made of smaller squares, but as I got closer to completion I felt the idea was really boring. I left the two opposing corner squares uncut for a few weeks while I contemplated what it needed to feel right, and I chose circles over squares.

Keep Apart-3

Keep Apart-4

Looking at this now I begin to wonder whether all of these recent geometric paper cuts would be stronger if they were cut away from the surrounding white paper and floated against the colourful background. Food for thought in the work I create in future. I should mention the colours in real life are not as bright as pictured here.

Keep Apart-2

Keep Apart

The finished piece is 17″ x 14″ cut from Canson drawing paper, and backed with Canson Mi-teintes coloured papers. This is but one of the many new works on display in my show at Kafka opening this Friday.

Paper Cut Work: Intertwine

As I was working on a price list and titles for work in my upcoming show at Kafka, I realized there are a few pieces I haven’t yet shared here. I document everything on Instagram, and sometimes work doesn’t make it beyond there.

There are three pieces I reworked a few weeks (or maybe even months) after I initially felt they were complete, and this is one of those three. I was inspired by an image of intertwined circles I came across on the sidewalk of my neighbourhood, but as a paper cut design it felt rather dull. I went back and added smaller rings within the two larger ones, and then it felt complete.

Intertwine - detail

Intertwine - detail

I was following my fascination with circles at the time, and I would really like to redo this same idea in a different way. I’m happy with this piece but there are things about it I want to do better.

Intertwine - detail

Intertwine

The finished paper cut design is created from 14″ x 17″ Canson drawing paper, backed with red water colour paper. It’s all framed and ready for it’s IRL debut at Kafka next week.

Doodling to the Moon and Back

Last week I was feeling like all the work I needed to do for my upcoming show was ready to go, that is until I visited the venue again. I decided I needed a few more pieces to properly fill the space, and one of these needed to be large. I decided this was a good opportunity to work on a large gel pen drawing, which turned out to be a bit of an endurance test.

Untitled

Untitled

I used a white Sakura gel pen to draw on a piece of black 98 lb Canson paper with a light texture. I didn’t like drawing on this paper as much as the card stock which has a smoother surface to work on. The diameter of the circle is 13.5″ on 17″ paper, and I drew it over the course of about four or five days.

I’ve never spent so much time drawing, but my hand did not end up feeling as sore as it does when I’ve been doing too much paper cutting. That seems to take more effort.

Untitled

Untitled

I shared the collage of the four in-progress photos on Instagram a few days ago, and a few people expressed liking the incomplete versions. I like them as well, but I really wanted this one in particular to be a circle.

And just like that it is now framed and ready for the show.

Doodle Evolution

The other week I bought a white ink Sakura Gelly Roll pen from Opus on impulse, and my doodling addiction was refueled. I tested it out on a piece of scrap card stock in black, and knew immediately I needed to do more.

Doodle evolution

Doodle evolution

This series of drawings combines all the shapes I often doodle on repeat individually into one crazy composition that plays with the eyes. The white ink on the black paper seems to glow. The drawing above is the first of the full size pieces I did on 8.5″ x 11″ cardstock.

Doodle evolution
Doodle evolution

After the first drawing I decided to work towards a circle as the end result. Pictured above are the first two of these doodle clusters, both of which I completed in one sitting.

The latest of these I worked on over a few days because I didn’t have enough time to work on it in a single sitting. The photos below are how the piece evolved as I worked on it.

Doodle evolution
Doodle evolution
Doodle evolution

In the process of working on all of these drawings I’ve used up the first Sakura pen I purchased and returned to Opus to buy more. These pens feel so lovely to move across a smooth surface, which is why I love to draw with them.

I am very pleased with this series of drawings and have decided to include some of them in my upcoming show at Kafka in October. More details to come about that…