Applications to fill out..

Apps are coming for next year's shows. I just completed the apps for Crocker Park in June and the Levi's Commons Guild show in Toledo in August. Thankfully they are online, so I don't have to deal with stamps and slides..

Holiday wishes

My last show of the year is over. Now I get to settle in for a winter of carving so I can rebuild my ornament and cottonwood sculpture inventory. Most of my 'new ideas' sold really well or sold out entirely, so look for more carved mirrors, cottonwood houses, and angel ornaments coming next year. Plus some more abstract papercuttings, and maybe some seasonal cards- I started doodling a Christmas tree that I am fairly hapy with.. :)

I especially want to thank all my regular and new customers for coming out to the shows and suppporting my work this year- buying local AND supporting the arts! Here's wishing a happy and healthy holiday season to all!!!

Great Christmas present idea!!

Looking for a unique Christmas present for someone who loves their pets? Get them a papercut customized pet portrait! All I need is a clear photo (preferably high-resolution digital), a size (8x10, 11x14, or 16x20), and a preferred color scheme and I will make a one-of-a-kind piece for you.. You can go to the PaperCuts Studio website to page through a gallery of samples of the custom work that I have done for other people.

Order by December 6th to guarantee delivery in time for Christmas...

Last art show of the year!

The 22nd annual ArtCraft Holiday Open Studio and Sale
Over 20 Downtown artists and 30 regional artists working in fine arts and crafts across diverse media. Largest collection of fine art & craft for the holiday season

Saturday, December 5, 2009, from 11am to 8pm.
Sunday, December 6, 2009, from 11am to 5pm.
At the ArtCraft Building, 2570 Superior Avenue, Cleveland 44114

Studios on the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th floors. Free Parking available. Elevator access.
Visit the website for more information on participating artists.

This weekend..

..is my next-to-last art show of the year- the Christkindl Markt. I haven't done this show before, so fingers crossed that all goes well! The show is in its 38th year, and is held at the Cultural Center for the Arts in Canton (1001 Market Avenue North, Canton, OH). Admission is $6 with free parking. Dates and times:

Friday, November 13: 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
Saturday, November 14: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Sunday, November 15: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Presentation, Brunswick Art Works , 11/4

I am scheduled to give a presentation about papercutting to the Brunswick Art Works group on Wednesday, November 4th. The meeting is held at 7:30 pm at the Brunswick City Hall, 4095 Center Road, Brunswick.

Brunswick Art Works

New angel and giraffe patterns

Bit of a setback

I was painting the watercolor background for my "Bathing Beauty" giant tiger papercutting piece, and left the small container of water sitting on the table next to it. Unfortunately, when my back was turned one of my cats jumped up on the counter and decided to go fishing in the water. End result is that there are slightly muddy-colored water speckles on the papercutting piece. Dunno if I can fix the damage, if not I will have to recut the piece instead, which is a painful prospect because it took me forever the first time! I will also have to have the pattern professionally printed on the cutting paper since it is too big for my printer. So the piece may not be on display till middle to late next year.. :(

Wings

Finished my latest abstract/stylized piece called "Wings". I was thinking of angels and swan wings and started sketching... and this is the result. I painted the background with blues and yellows, shading down from darker at the top to lighter at the bottom. The piece is matted and framed at 8"x10".

New ornament carving

I spent last weekend at the Strongsville Art in Wood woodcarving show. While I was there on Saturday I drew up a new ornament pattern, sawed out the blank Saturday night, then got most of the carving done on Sunday. The piece is carved out of a circle of butternut wood, and it is of a stylized swan with its wing curved up over its head..

Finally organized!!

I spent the last three weeks buying modular furniture for my art room, putting it together, arranging, sorting all my stacks of stuff into logical compartments, etc.. The room has been an incredible mess for a long time- as in "can't see most of the floor" mess. Enough so that it depressed me to go in there instead of inspiring me. So I am thrilled with the way things look now! I have no "before" pics- too embarrassing to admit to- but here are the"after"s.

New carving project- flower mirror

I just finished putting this project together today. I had had the idea of doing a mirror frame for a while, and I sketched up the side panels while I was sitting at volleyball a couple months ago. Took forever to get the side panels carved so they looked similar enough to make me happy. I decided not to sand the flower panels on the sides, and not to finish the frame at all. The top and bottom panels were just simple curves to hide the edges of the mirror and the framework behind it... I am really happy with the way this turned out, and now I want to make another one! Will have to wait till inspiration strikes as to the theme though.. :)

Amoeba

Bonfire

Sapling

Shuriken

Breakwall

My second completed abstract/stylized piece! I have a couple more matted and backgrounds painted- I will have to try to get them framed and photographed this weekend as well. This piece is stylized waves breaking on a cliff. The background is hand-painted with watercolor in blues, greens, browns, and tans. It is framed with a simple black aluminum frame at 8"x10".

First cut- new Pony pattern

New work

I have been playing a lot over the last couple months with the idea of doing some stylized and/or abstract work (unlike my usual style, which leans toward photo-realism. Or as close to photo-realism as you can get with cut paper.. :) ). This will allow me to do more framed single-edition pieces with hand-painted backgrounds, and letting the background show through more.

My first piece in this series- "Solar Flare" is already complete and on display. My second piece is cut, and I am just trying to decide what color scheme to use so I can paint the background. It is tentatively named "Shuriken".

I just started sketching ideas for two nature-inspired pieces on the bus and while I was waiting at the car dealership for my car to be fixed today- one is a stylized tree, the other is waves breaking on a rock or cliff. I am having a lot of fun with this concept- as long as the ideas keep coming. And providing people like them well enough that they sell of course.. ;) I did get a LOT of compliments on "Solar Flare" at my last show when I displayed it for the first time, so we will see...

Art show this weekend

My next show is coming up this weekend- the
St. John West Shore Festival of the Arts at the St. John Westshore Hospital grounds, 29000 Center Ridge Road, Westlake.

Times are:
Friday, July 10th, 6PM - 9PM
Saturday, July 11th, 10AM - 7PM
Sunday, July 12th, 10AM - 5PM

Looking forward

For the last couple months, I have been working on designing and starting to cut a tiger piece that will be my largest ever (probably framed at 22x28) once it is complete. I still have quite a ways to go on the cutting, and then I will have to have the mat and frame made up and paint the background. I am hoping to have it done for my next Crocker Park show in October, but we will have to see how my time goes.. :)
Anyway, here is a small picture of the pattern.

First cut- new Miniature Schnauzer

Solar Flare

I completed my first abstract piece! It is curves and shapes fitting together, and it is named 'Solar Flare'. I hand-painted the background in reds, golds, oranges, yellows, tans, and black with watercolors and framed it to 11x14 with a simple black frame...

First cut- new Tufted Titmouse pattern

Last cutting- giraffe

I have another piece on its final edition. I had a run on giraffes lately and sold 1/3 and 2/3 in the last couple weeks at an art show and on Etsy respectively. So here is 3/3, the last chance to get this piece before it is gone!

New show added to the list

I got my acceptance letter from another show- the Christkindl Markt at the Canton Museum of Art, November 13-15. More details on my website, and I will of course hype it more as it gets closer to time... :)

New pattern- pony

Hippo and goldfish cuttings

This is the first cut on my new hippo pattern:









And this is the second edition of my goldfish to replace a piece I sold last weekend:

Multi-tasking

I usually work on carving or cutting while I am at a show to make the time go quicker and so I can feel productive even if the show doesn't go well. So in the 20+ hours that I was at CP this weekend, I managed to get 4 carvings done. The 3 smaller ones I did from start to finish, the larger one was about half-done when I took it up there..













And since my large central cottonwood piece is now sold, I kicked into higher gear working on my next large piece. I have the piece planned and laid out with 4 faces, and 2 of the 4 were roughed out. Today I got the 3rd roughed out, and fine-tuned all 3. Will put up more pics once I have things defined enough to show up well on camera.. The total piece is about 4.5 feet long, and I am hoping to have it done by the Saint John Westshore show in July.

Crocker Park Art Show

We were truly blessed with mostly great weather and great crowds all weekend. Thanks to all old and new customers for coming out and enjoying the day and all the artwork on display!! And an extra thanks for my neighboring artist and the guild staff members for helping me recover the bag with my tent sides when I intelligently left it behind on the curb and didn't realize I was missing it until I got home AND got the car entirely unpacked... :\ Thank goodness it was a local show for me, only 20 minutes away!

Here is my booth with the new tent getting it's first use. The mannequin in underwear behind the tent was an side-effect of being placed right by Victoria's Secret.. :)

First cut- new Border Terrier and Skye Terrier patterns

New pattern- Tufted Titmouse

Tent upgrade!!

Well, after trying to replace the broken struts on my Ezup tent and finding even more parts that would need to be replaced, I broke down and ordered a professional artist tent from Creative Energies- the Light Dome. It is supposed to be the lightest and easiest to put up of the three brands I have heard other artists recommend. Just in time for my first outdoor show of the year next weekend.

So I got the packages yesterday, and took some time today to figure it out and set it up. It was actually a LOT easier than I had expected- the only tricky part is getting the canvas top spread over the top. But that is also better than I expected. I think this will make life a lot easier for setup- not to mention it is actually waterproof, so I won't have to be nervous overnight for weekend shows...

I was too lazy to extend the legs to full height or put up all the sides once I figured out how they went on, but here is the base. I will try to get a full shot when I am set up for Crocker Park next weekend...

First cut- new Sea Turtle pattern

First cut- new Wolf pattern

First cut- new Chinese Sharpei pattern

New pattern- Hippo

New pattern- sea turtle

New pattern- Miniature Schnauzer

First cut- new Scottish Deerhound pattern

Upcoming show- Orange Art Fair

My first art show of the year is coming up this Sunday, May 5th. It runs from 10 am to 5 pm, and is in Pepper Pike at Moreland Hills Elementary school at 32000 Chagrin Blvd. So if you are on the east side of Cleveland, come on out to join us and celebrate spring finally being here!!

First cut- new Dalmation and Gorilla patterns

New pattern- Skye Terrier

Another fairly uncommon breed..
I met two of these pups at the Chagrin Falls Polo field dog show a couple of years ago- 2007 maybe? I have been working on this pattern for a while and have been struggling with it since they are one of those breeds with the hair always in the eyes, and I have found that it is hard to make a dog or any animal's face come 'alive' if you can't see at least one eye.. But I think I came up with a good compromise that worked well here.
They were sweet pups, very cute, and their owners/handlers were very nice to me as well.. :)

First cut- new Clumber Spaniel and Airedale Terrier cuttings

New patterns- Border Terrier and Gorilla

New pieces on Etsy

I just put the last pieces for my older Airedale Terrier and Chinese Shar-pei patterns up for sale on Etsy..

New patterns- Dalmation and Scottish Deerhound

New patterns- Chinese Shar-pei and Wolf