Hearts and Flowers

St Valentines day, The 14th of February is fast approaching, so I have spent some time in the last couple of days thinking about hearts and flowers.  If you have been reading my posts over the last few months, you will know that I have a liking for simple black and white.  Either by creating black and white line drawings, or by paper cutting, I like making things where colour is minimised and pattern and form are everything.  I started my hearts and flowers theme along these lines.

Hearts and Flowers by Karen Mehta

Once the drawing was finished I wanted to experiment with some colour but keep the original black and white.  To do this I scanned the drawing into my computer and then used some software with my graphics tablet to add colour.

Hearts and Flowers 1 by Karen Mehta

Hearts and Flowers 2 by Karen Mehta

Here are two variations created in this way, and I have altered the size and shape of the background to allow for different greetings card dimensions.  Who will you be making Valentines greeting for?

Paper Cutting (2)

Hi All,
So in my first post this year I am picking up again with paper cutting.  I have been sorting through my work, and took a piece I cut a few years back to be framed.  It took around 100 hours to produce so it seemed wrong to hide it away.  This is a big deal for me!  Although I make all these things, I sometimes feel self-conscious about my work, and often when I finish something, it just gets put away and never sees the light of day again.  So taking the finished cut to the framers means definitely taking the step of hanging or or selling it, not sure which.  So here it is in all its framed glory… it's called English Orchard.

English Orchard by Karen Mehta

I have taken a couple of close-up pictures, so hopefully you can see that in the framing process we have sandwiched the cut between two pieces of glass.  Its not immediately obvious from a distance, but up closer you can see a subtle shadow that is cast by the cut onto the mount board, I really like the effect.

I'll be cutting some more in the next few weeks, I love the simplicity of colour and intricacy of form in the finished designs.

Paper Cutting

The big problem with being an enthusiastic crafter is the amount of space and storage it takes up.  There are some crafts however that can produce really pleasing results that require very little in the way of equipment and space.  All you need is time and patience.  I'm talking about the amazing art of paper cutting.  There are so many styles and versions of this craft, but I got the bug in Switzerland where I was lucky enough to visit some exhibitions of work by current artists.  It was a feast for my eyes! So much detail and skill I had to have a go.  This was my first attempt.  A really simple cut it took a few hours to draw and cut, but it was a great opportunity to learn how to handle the paper and the scissors and get a result I was happy with.

Paper Cut,  Karen Mehta 2004

My old faithful paper cutting scissors

The only special equipment I use are paper cutting scissors that I bought in Switzerland, and paper which is black one side and white the other.  Scissors are easily available on the web now, and many paper cutting artists use a variety of craft knives, scalpels and cutting mats to achieve their finished designs.  If you take a look on google you will find all kinds of resources.  I however like to use scissors.  It is simple and portable - I can cut a design on a plane, train, sitting by the pool on holiday, or on the sofa at home watching TV.  The white backing on the paper allows you to draw your design and then follow your pencil marks with the scissors.  The picture below shows how the design started out with some of the pencil lines still visible on the back, along with some parts of the design which I did not cut.  They were a bit too intricate for a first time exercise!

Pencil design is still visible

The other thing this picture shows is that the image started life folded in half.  This is a real help as you know that as you cut through the two layers, you are creating a symmetrical image - this is far less demanding on your drawing skills than doing the whole thing free hand.  In Switzerland they call the art Scherenshnitte.  If you google this and look at the images you will be amazed at what can be achieved with paper and scissors.  Have a go…doing one will make you brave and you will want to try again.  My second cut was a mixture of folk art designs, flowers and a spiders web.  It took about 40 hours, but I was  pleased with the results.  I have been cutting ever since!

Paper Cut Karen Mehta 2004