Monday 28 February 2011

A grey day and a head in sunny Norfolk and Wells-next-the-Sea

Its been such a grey, grey day here in Letchworth. Its started grey and it finished grey with only a small break in the very fine drizzle that came with the grey. I was getting oprganised - the deadline for delivering my recent pieces to Byard Art for them to take to the Affordable Art Fair in London soon is looming up scarily quickly. I need to deliver the work this Sunday and as yet I have only framed up couple of pieces. Thats mainly as its been half term and I have to significantly swap heads and be mum and make sure the kids are entertained and happy. It also that means squeezing my work into the gaps in between. I managed to get cutting though in a few hours here and there and its great to see a new body of work emerge. At long last I have managed to get some London cuts done, and today I started another quest to translate into paper, that of some of the architecture in Norfolk. We go on holiday to North Norfolk each year really. Its a place apart and a slower life that does me good. Its good to be out of the loop for a while and have no mobile signal! Wells-next-the-sea is a much treasured place. Its a small little port perfect for crabbing and playing in sand dunes and just being about doing nothing except eating the odd ice cream here and there. From Wells-next-the-sea you can walk to Holkham beach and thats where the beach really opens up to a wide expanse and dunes as far as you can see. These little beach huts are further in and brightly painted in strong primaries and hues. They look very jolly and very seasidey! And crying out to be made as cuts.

In this picture I have just started to make the piece. Coloured papers will feature too underlaid under the black outlines. And I will be using a wonderful semi textured brown paper for the sand. Its lovely to have ny head stuck in sunny holiday Norfolk when its so utterly grey here!

Saturday 19 February 2011

St Pancras paper cut - the finish is in sight...

Here is the progress so far... the finishing post is in sight!!! And I have to admit, I am chuffed with how its looking. My hardest paper cut to make yet. just imagine if I could do the WHOLE facade!!!

Friday 18 February 2011

Joining AudioBoo and me singing a childhood lullaby about a soldier and Suvla Bay

I have signed up to AudioBoo - its a bit like Twitter but its all audio posts. I am fascinated and am going to get cracking and record some of my written text pieces. as a start I have recorded a little lullaby that my father sang to me as a child. Its all about a soldier killed at Suvla Bay. Its sad and tragic and yet takes me straight back to being a child and at home, to a timeless place of corn fields, ice inside the window on winters mornings and of course the blue sky of Wiltshire.

Here is the link to my very first Boo, simply click here and enjoy.

Thursday 17 February 2011

Cutting St. Pancras - and a love of trains

St Pancras has been a building that's amazed me for many years. Situated right next to Kings Cross (which is the station that I arrive into from home into London) - its the building I walk past if I am heading to the British Library or a little further down the road to another favourite place: The Wellcome Collection. Its such a magnificent building and of course is now home to the Eurostar International railway line. I simply love, love, love trains. Of any description. They can be little chuggy ones that take me to Ally Pally or the speedier trains that zip by the landscape. When I fantasise of time alone... its a train journey that I go in my head, with a never ending ticket and a never emptying purse. There is just something magical about a train journey. Still, I digress!! here is the start of the St. Pancras cut slowly emerging from the paper. Its taken 8 hours so far and counting....










Monday 14 February 2011

Stonehill School - Art Club - paper faces and masks - Feb 2011

Here are some paper faces and masks that the children at Stonehill School made this week at the wednesday after school art club...



                                    



Stonehill School, Letchworth - Art Club - Feb 2011 - paper faces and masks

Here are some examples of the paper masks and faces that the Stonehill School art club children made this last wednesday. The pieces are cut from a single sheet of coloured paper folded and cut into, with added felt tip patterns and shapes.





Stonehill School, Letchworth - handmade books January 2011

Here are the mini handmade books the children at the art club I run at Stonehill School, Letchworth made recently. I showed them how to make the mini books by folding a single sheet of A4paper and they then had the chance to fill the books with nything they wished - from stories to jokes!




Stonehill School, Letchworth - handmade books January 2011

More examples of the little handmade books made at the art club I run on Tuesdays
 at Stonehill School, Letchworth.







New post on my Papercut Girl Blog - making the cut of St. Paul's Cathedral



Click here for the link to my Papercut girl blog to see more of the process of making the St. Paul's Cathedral paper cut...

St. Paul's Cathedral - preparing work for the Affordable Art Fair, London, March 2011

Here are some of the stages of making a cut.This is St. Paul's Cathedral in London. A simply magnificent Wren building that takes my breathe away when ever I see it! I am making some really large pieces for me - A2 cuts of architecture in London and Cambridge ready for the Affordable Art Fair in London in March 2011. I have been wanting to go bigger, my ambition is to do a whole skyline but time isn't always there with two kids and the other papercut work I do. I am determined though and this is the first start of the process. Its daunting stuff to start at that blank page. Little by little though I cut it from the paper, carve it out almost and its fantastic to see it appear.