A Garden for Cathy
If you've ever wondered about my process of papercutting, this post is full of drafts! If you'd rather just see the final object, scroll right to the bottom.In September, my aunt Cathy was hospitalized with some injuries. Cathy always has beautiful gardens, and I decided she needed a paper one for the hospital.Of course, I increased the difficulty level for myself. I wanted this papercutting to:
be high-contrast (ideally black and white, but I eventually caved on adding some color)
be cut entirely from one sheet of paper with all parts connected
include only flowers that Cathy grows (ideally that flower in the same season, but I bent that rule)
include the pattern of her house's front porch railing
Whew. Constraints breed creativity, right?Getting to the final product was a process; I designed each flower and the porch railing as separate cuttings, testing their size, scale, and style against each other, before joining them all together into one cutting.I started with a single hollyhock, a flower I've wanted to make in paper for years. This is on a standard size post-it note, for scale.
Then I tried out some coneflowers and made the railing/frame. The flowers weren't attached to the frame here, so I could move them around and try out different placements.
I tried a set of hydrangeas, which never made it to the cutting stage; their shape just wasn't fitting with the other flowers. I replaced them with irises, but the style of the irises here doesn't match the style of the hollyhocks or coneflowers. Two of the hollyhocks are too big, and the buds on the irises look weird.
The next draft included better-scaled hollyhocks, less blocky irises (and without the buds), and was almost the final one... but see that top hollyhock?
It tore.
(Sigh.)
Earlier this fall, I had the opportunity to listen to a lecture an author/illustrator who used papercuttings in one of his books. He recommended pastel pencils for adding details, and I couldn't resist playing with my set when I got to the final draft of this cutting. I love the effect of the tiny pop of color against all this black and white.
Finally, the finished product:
This was definitely the biggest papercutting challenge I've set for myself, and I'm delighted that it served its purpose: Cathy enjoyed it!