I was inspired by a lovely white on white piece that a woman in my paper cutting class started this week. This is a tunnel book. Each panel is attached to the side accordion folds with tabs that stick out. I wanted to experiment with cutting the swoopy garlands so that was my starting point.

The bird on a perch seemed like the perfect thing to sit underneath the garlands. I added the bunting panel to add some interest to the top. The front and back were painted with a soft petal pink watercolor wash and the garlands on the back layer were just dotted on with a slightly opaque mix of the same pink and a grey.

I am so happy with this book. A tiny LED candle set in the back creates a wonderful mood within the piece and pulls it all together.

begin again

I spend a lot of time looking for inspiration. This starts simply as looking for reference materials and turns into a terrible fall down a deep rabbit hole. It's so easy to get mired in ideas and forget that you have to eventually create something from those thoughts you are hoarding.

Today I've collected materials, and will create something. I will be inspired by my own process.

I started a paper cutting class this week. I was excited when I signed up and I'm even more excited now. This was the first project for the class which I think is brilliant. This is such an approachable project but it is also well suited to pretty much any skill level.

I am always a little uncertain when confronted with having to draw and this was no different. Once I'd traced my hand I started by filling in the fingers with abstract shapes and sort of went from there. Turning something into a silhouette covers almost all evidence of terrible drawing skills. I was really happy with the final product.