Book from One Sheet Paper - "Hare and Tortoise" 5 x 5 inches

Friends, hare and tortoise, chat about a contest one day while enjoying ice cream sodas.

 Every summer, I teach a couple of weeks of Art Studios for Children at North River Arts Society here in Marshfield, MA.  I love those weeks each summer working with young artists from 6 - 11 years old.  A few summers ago, I showed each student how to make a book from one large piece of paper.  They wrote their own stories, designed and illustrated each of the twelve pages and a cover. Then they made several strategic cuts to the original sheet of paper, and folded it into a book. This video shows the cutting and folding technique. 


 During the process, I taught my students a number of design considerations, including how to create the illusion of distance using size, temperature and placement.
My sample book resurfaced the other day as I was organizing.  I designed my own take on "The Hare and the Tortoise" as an example of the finished product.   Glad to have found the book.  Let me know what you think.

They lay out the course over hill and dale. The hare bounds off to a speedy start!

Confident Hare naps on the course while methodical Tortoise eventually passes him.  Hare bounds off again.

Overconfident Hare stops for a picnic as Tortoise again catches up.  Hare meanders ahead, Finish in sight.

Hare slowed to taunt Tortoise, who plods past and wins!  Photo op with the trophy.

The two friends celebrate with ice cream sodas.  Hare bemused, Tortoise ebullient. Friends to the end.

Bat house, Birdhouse and icons

Recently, I designed a lesson for my young Art Studio class.  We talked about symbol vs reality.  Road signs are a great example.  When you see a sign for "Deer Crossing", do you see every eyelash on the deer?  Every nuance of fur and hoof?  


All of the students gave examples of symbols that they come across in their lives: birthdays, Red Sox, holidays, poison, danger, electricity, product recognition, superheros, etc.  We had a blast.  Then we created symbols for Halloween and constructed lanterns using the silhouettes in heavy black paper atop yellow tissue paper.  Drop a votive inside (in a jelly glass, with parental supervision) and you have a very cool Halloween decoration.  Yup, a lesson where we got to cut paper, right up my alley!


I resurrected the motif for a birdhouse I painted for my local art association's recent fundraiser.  Fall IS just around the corner.

Thanks for looking.

Inspired by Matisse "Harmony in Red" 6 x 6 oil

The December challenge for Girls Just Wanna Paint was to paint with Matisse in mind. I am most familiar with his paper cutouts.  Some of you may be aware of my interest in cutting paper so it crossed my mind to do a Matisse-inspired paper piece.  However, when I spent some time researching Matisse paintings and images, the paper idea slipped away.   

I learned that Matisse studied law, and became interested in art during a year of convalescence in his very early twenties.  His artistic evolution is so interesting to explore.

Look at this still life from early in his career, Fruit and Coffee Pot, a long way from the pattern-laden, abstracted nature of his work I was familiar with.  Seeing "Fruit and Coffee-Pot" pulled  Gustave Caillebotte's painting "Fruits sur un Etalage" (see below) from some dusty corner of my brain.  Caillebotte was 20 years Matisse's senior, not sure if they knew one another.  

 Back to the GJWP challenge:
 
My painting is loosely based on Matisse's "Harmony in Red" below.  I set up a few red objects, and included a couple of Matisse bookmarks as backdrop.  I tried to flatten the perspective, relying only on placement of objects in front and behind to define the space, to keep the shades of red very close in value, and to explore an outline of many shapes, which I applied after, with mixed success.  I substituted the dominant black and white figure from the paper cut out for the high contrast woman in "Harmony in Red". 

By the way, look at the beautiful repetition of shape in "Harmony in Red" - blue designs on the table cloth to the undulating fruit/flower piece on the table to the back wall - almost like two raised hands cradling an object.   It was certainly an interesting exercise, and the research was fascinating. Thanks for looking and Happy New Year. 
  

"September Dusk" 8x8 cut paper

 
I like to cut paper.   Let me elaborate.  I like to cut paper with scissors to make interesting shapes and forms without drawing them first.  I use it in my math classes to demonstrate symmetry to my students.  I cut paper shapes iconic of certain holidays that our church youth group then uses to make one-of-a-kind note cards which they sell to fund their mission trips. I like to cut paper.  

 "September Dusk" image stretched to square proportions

So, when North River Arts Society kicked off this year's Outside the Box fundraiser, inviting artists and non-artists alike to create an 8" x 8" work, different from their norm, I decided to paint with paper.  

I chose one of my favorite paintings of our local river and stretched its image into a square for the proportions.  I bought a number of sheets of patterned paper, no solids,  considering only the colors and values, not the patterns, then proceeded to cut shapes, and to use them like paint.  It was very interesting to decide how to layer up, how to soften edges, how to build in atmospheric perspective and texture.  I used the paper much like I would use paint, blocking in with large shapes, then continually subdividing those shapes.

original "September Dusk" 7 x 5

The result is a "paper painting" filled with paisley, polka dots, peacock feathers,  floral images, toile, and stripes that comprise "September Dusk". When I compare the original oil and the paper version, I'll admit, I am drawn to the oil more than the paper. However, I love the paper painting, the thinking and the process. My goal was not to recreate the original oil painting.  My goal was to create a piece of art that stands on its own, using the oil painting as reference, much like my oil paintings are intended to stand on their own, using life as reference. 

 I'm planning to explore this idea again, and am considering skipping the middle step altogether, bringing my paper, scissors, and Modge Podge outside to paint with paper en plein air. 

As always, interested in your thoughts.  Thanks for looking.