I Cut Paper

I’m not an artist in the usual sense. Most artists, no matter their preferred media, seem to be able to whip out a sketch to help them achieve their creative goals.

Me? I can’t draw a stick, but when I have some beautiful paper and a pair of scissors in my hand, I can create art!

Several years ago, while browsing Etsy, I stumbled upon some pen-and-ink drawings of colorful, whimsical birds. I thought, “I wish I could create something as lovely as those birds.” But I knew my attempts would be amateurish, at best. So, I ordered a couple of prints of the drawings, hoping I could somehow use them to motivate my creativity.

Then, inspiration hit.

In college, and even after my babies were born, I created Scherenschnitte paper cuttings as a way to relieve stress. At first, I bought patterns that I simply cut out, but gradually, I began to create my own designs, using tracing paper to make the pattern from images I liked.

So, with the pen-and-ink drawings in hand, I decided to dig through my craft closet to find my old Scherenschnitte scissors, and, using scrapbook paper, I easily created a couple of funny little birds, based on the pen-and-ink drawings.

At the time, I was working long hours in a stressful job. My son and daughter were in high school, and my husband was travelling internationally. I realized that in a couple of years my kids would go off to college and I would be mostly alone when I came home from work.

I knew instinctively that papercutting would keep me busy, relieve my stress, and help me to have a creative outlet during those lonely times.

Consequently, I started creating paper cuttings of anything that caught my eye. For the most part, the art I created was based on images from the Golden Age of Illustration. I re-imagined the art of Jesse Wilcox Smith, Eloise Wilkin, and many others.

That’s when I discovered my love for creating paper cut portraits. I can’t explain why I enjoy capturing an expression or the unique personality portrayed in a person’s face. But I love to study the shape of the eye, the contour of the nose, and the curve of the mouth. The slightest cut can change the expression.

Eventually, I mustered the courage to make the leap from using other artists’ illustrations as inspiration to using photographs of real people. Although the challenge is greater when you try to portray the essence of a real person, so is the reward.

Because I knew my own children’s faces the best (and because, to me, they are beautiful), I began to practice the paper cutting techniques I had improvised by creating portraits of my son and daughter. The more I practiced, the more my portraits began to look like the real people.

As the years passed, my kids were graduating from college, marrying their soul mates, and beginning their adult lives, and I was capturing life’s events in paper. Today, our home is filled with paper cut wedding portraits and slice-of-life pictures of grandchildren.

I don’t advertise my art, but I’ve had several commissions to create paper cuttings of the life events of others. Seeing each person’s response to my art is almost an out-of-body experience. It’s hard for me to really comprehend their delight with something I created.

As I’ve honed my skills, I’ve collected an assortment of scissors, paper punches, and paper cutting knives. I love the challenge of using these tools in unexpected ways to create a cutting. Often, when I’m in the middle of a project, I find myself going to sleep at night and waking up in the morning planning my next move for overcoming one of the many challenges in translating a photo to a paper cutting.

I have to confess, I’m intimidated by the skills of other artists.

I’m always asking myself, “Is this real art or is it just a craft?”

But, when one of my cuttings brings a recipient to tears, I don’t care if it’s not real art.