After big plans to provide a virtual tour of my new exhibition at Beaumont, I decided I would take my standard route: skip it entirely. Big mistake, big, huge. Here is a small selection from the 100 +/- pieces that hung in the Beaumont gallery space for 6 weeks. There were many new pieces, many usual suspects and familiar favorites, but save 1 or 2, I don’t believe these (below) have ever been posted here. I am a paper cutter, but a lousy photographer, so please excuse the muted colors, wacky perspectives, and the obligatory selfies caught in the glare.
I love, love, love Beaumont, and the wonderful women who take the reins and create the most carefree environment possible. Each time I take a show down I cannot wait to come back.

These pieces are still for sale, so feel free to message me for price information as I haven’t updated this information quite yet.

***One note: I’ve recieved some feedback about my “Untitled” piece depicting a rattlesnake strangling and suffocating the American flag; the rattlesnake inspired by the Gadsen, “Don’t Tread On
Me” flag that was designed in in 1775. From my, admittedly limited perspective on history, this flag was meant to symbolize resistance to a stranglehold by the British during the Revolutionary War. It has been trotted out throughout history and manipulated to represent any number of instances in which it was believed that “rights” were at risk of infringement. (Much the same way The Constitution has been… and for that matter, The Bible). I have heard that this rattlesnack and it’s original motto have become the de facto symbol for right-wing expression in terms of gun rights, a call for “small government,” and more recently, Trump’s America; an American, in my mind, that is a true perversion of a Democracy. This little piece of mine has received criticism because, “An American flag should always be depicted unfurled.” I’ve been cautioned that viewers might see it and assume that I am neo-right winger, sitting in my third floor studio capped with a
MAGA hat. I’ve even been told that the matting and (poor) framing choice further supports my interest in the “traditional.”

I left it “Untitled,” because I didn’t know what to call it. I only know this: I felt like, I still feel, that America is being overrun by Americans that hate Americans. I am agressively liberal. John sometimes jokes that my version of America is one in which everyone holds hands. Untrue, I hate holding hands. In fact, I haven’t felt patriotic for as long as I can remember, and the more and more I learn about the true history of the United States, the more I feel concerned and disturbed about what being American truly means. That being said, I have lived a life of ease, and I know that is much because of the rights I enjoy as a citizen of this country (and…. as a White, cis woman….). So, I cut this piece of an American flag being strangled and suffocated by a rattlesnack because in my mind, in the moment, it meant just that. We are suffocating ourselves. We are using the perversion of “our own” symbols of freedom to squash and sqelch freedom for all.

Because “art is art,” I am leaving it up. I’ve been asked to remove it, but I dislike censorship as much as dislike being misundertstood.

To be clear: Trump is a monster, and the only benefit that has come from his reign is that it has revealed the enemy hidden in plainclothes. The venomous, foaming hatred that has always surrounded us took centerstage, fresh from the shadows. These people represent the worst of America.

So put that in your pot and smoke it. (Because I think that should be legal, too, because I’m a tree hugging, crunchy dem).

I said goodbye to my Lovely Lucy yesterday.

For seven of the greatest years she was never far from my side – much to her chagrin, I’m sure. I realize now more than ever just how often she was on my mind. Apart from the everyday things pet owners have to think about, it was also just her… like an adjunct spirit.  I felt her presence everywhere I went, and when I had to be far from her, I felt heavy and heartbroken. Even then. I was Roy Neary sculpting his mashed potatoes in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  He was haunted by a vision that wouldn’t quit. He drew, he sculpted, and filled his home with trash and made his living room like a huge, stinking art installation.  He just saw it all the time, he couldn’t shake it. When he finally saw Devil’s Tower on the tv and he knew the thing that possessed him was real… his relief melted from him in waves; blood, sweat, and tears. Of course then the movie took on a new dimension, but that’s neither here nor there…

That was Lucy for me. No matter where I went or what I did, she was always on my mind. Big black eyes, ruffled fur, and her nose-licking tongue. I captured her from floating images in my mind: sketchs, dry erase markers, chalk, paint, pastel, paper cutting, in the margins of enough paper to fill a book… I tried to capture her in every way that I could. Of course, nothing is as good as the original.

For seven years I felt that beautiful relief, too, coming home and scooping her up.  She was there, and real, and lovely. She didn’t like to be held, she certainly didn’t like to be snuggled, and I know she probably dreaded the few moments I’d press my nose to her nose and kiss her tiny, stinky mouth; but she’d always let me do it. At 8.2lbs to my 130, I guess she didn’t stand a chance; but she’d usually give me a few moments before wriggling out of my arms like a roided up spider. I like to think she was deliberate in her sensitive pauses.

I’ll see her the same way for the rest of my life.  As lost as I feel right now, I know it won’t always feel “haunting.”  Ever on mind, she’ll just be like a forever muse.  I took about 1000 pictures of her. It’s so hard to know there won’t ever be one more, but I know she’ll keep popping up in the margins.  I won’t be sculpting her likeness from garbage in my living room, though if you know me, you know that’s not an impossible notion…

I sniffed her toes, even when I really shouldn’t have. I breathed into her neck and kissed her until her fur was wet. I whispered sweet nothings in those giant ears even after I knew she couldn’t hear me. I’d put her bed on my desk so I could pause periodically to annoy her with a nuzzle. Every, single, day. I think my real full-time job was just loving Lucy.  I followed her around my apartment, and when I didn’t, she followed me. As independent as she was, I could count on seeing a small black dot at the very bottom of my shower door. She stopped barking over a year ago, but if I had to leave for a longer stretch of time, I’d receive a video text from someone of her barking like a madwoman. It hurt to hear, but it made me feel loved (like only she could).

I held her, I walked her, and when she couldn’t walk I carried her everywhere I could. She’d been ready to go for some time; and my family and friends have been trying to prepare me for months. I didn’t think I’d ever know.  It’s really true. You don’t know, until you know.

Yesterday, I realized that the lovely visions of her that live in my mind, weren’t being mirrored by the real thing.  I stole as many kisses as I could, and as we walked the park together I held my cheek against her little face. I looked in her big gypsy eyes and told her I’d see her one day and I thanked her for wrapping herself around my heart for all these beautiful years. I like to think as I held her little body, my spirit wrapped itself around hers and took her in. We were always braided together. Even though I am puzzled by the absence of her paws clicking against my floors, I feel her with me more than ever.

I’ll never need to go anywhere without my Lovely Lucy again.

And if there is a heaven where all dogs go, I know Tramp and Luther were there to meet her.

Ha! Ahead of schedule, and yet behind. I took a gardening break and it was delightful.

I’m spent and hungry and X and Y will have to wait until tomorrow.

Update: X and Y…. will have to wait longer. I’m trading them in for two cuttings (one finished, one almost…)

Just because logging in and getting reacquainted with WordPress is half the battle… Here are a few of the cuttings I have been working on; in various stages of completion.  (Many not pictured because they are laying safely in a “ready to frame” flat file in another location).

Hand-painted cards

Doors, cutting in process

Chinese zodiac, in process

Commission, finished

Oz

Hand-painted cards

Quarantined at home,
Time to jumpstart the art flow.
Start with A, B, Cs.

Just a Haiku to introduce my first post in a very, very, very long time.

It’s amazing how the full-time in full-time job is… all encompassing.

There was a slight lull during the grey area between going to work and working from home, and during that time I had short bursts to cut some paper. I thought I’d start with something simple: the alphabet. I was originally planning to create a floral cut alphabet to be framed as one piece, but I thought this might be more relaxing. I haven’t worked on a large piece in a long, long time, but I have had more recent experience trying to create larger works piece by piece… Relaxing in the moment, but when I remember I working toward a larger goal, sometimes it changes the tune.

I wouldn’t say I’m consistently a “quantity over quality” type, but the thrill of instant gratification is a huge motivator for me. Having a finished piece in one working session both delights me, and keeps the inspiration to stay artsy burning. I take walks, I take a million pictures of flowers, I have sketch sessions to draw said flowers, but in this multi step process, once I sit down to draw and cut, I’m all about the “done and done!”

I and N were drawn weeks and week ago… and there they sit. They should have been cut immediately. That pause, that hesitation, those “gah! what time is it???” reality checks, is a killer of completion.

I have about 450 things I need to do today, but let’s see if I can honor this goal and set a mini-goal in honor of the sweet, satisfaction of breaking bad habits.

Today, I am going to draw: F, R, U, V, W, X, Y. By end of day tomorrow, the pictures will be up!

By Friday, May 9, I will post the finished cuttings.

When I first started cutting I was as impatient when making art as I was in the rest of my life – with everything. I cut almost everything freehand (no drawing beforehand- maybe a sketch), and having little experience with artistic exactness, most of my work remained “works in progress” for years. I wasn’t happy with them, I couldn’t figure out how to finish them, etc.  Eventually I realized I needed to take the time to complete my drawings before I touched the knife.  It’s still not a perfect science for me, I tend to draw like I take notes: that’ll be enough, I’ll get what I meant once I get back.  No.

I’ve started to play around with drawing with pen so my pencil doesn’t smear, drawing with colored pencils so the nuances of the sketch are clear, and more recently, drawing with crayon because the wax helps to protect the paper and make it TINY bit stronger.

All that being said, this post is really for those that ask, “Do you draw your designs first?”

Yes, always, definitely, without a doubt.

IIIIII thought so!

This Wednesday, October 25, I will be planting myself on the 2nd floor of the Gladwyne Library taking orders for custom silhouettes. Have a kid? Grandkid? Niece? Nephew? Friend? NEIGHBOR? BOSS?  Up your gift game this year but giving the gift of the traditional silhouette (or the traditional silhouette with a twist).  Skip the ihome that you found at Costco (no one is into that stuff anymore). Monogrammed robe from Restoration Hardware? I know they are the softest, but really, is Grandpa Joe going to wear it? You know that friend you’ve maybe, kinda, sorta neglected since they spawned? Show you still care with a custom cutting of their sweet, little angel!

Visit on Wednesday and 20% of your purchase will benefit the Gladwyne Library – that’s an amazing gift, supporting local art, AND a charitable donation to a library. How can you go wrong? Also, all orders placed Wednesday have a guaranteed turn-around time before or by the December 2017 holidays.

I will NOT be cutting the silhouettes live, because performance art is not my bag. I spent five years as a face painter and vowed never create art live again- on someone’s face or of someone’s face. I will be taking a photo, chatting with you about options, so it’s important you bring with you the person you need a photo of. If you can’t bring them, just place the order with me and I will contact you to get the photo at a later date.

Feel free to email me with questions or pricing information at: brownpapercutter@gmail.com

Sweet Mabel is cool shop in a cool town, and I think I am one of the only people on the main line that hadn’t visited until this year. For people that mentioned the shop to me (about 25), I think it must have been like quoting The Princess Bride or Labyrinth and hearing, “Never watched it.”  Madness!  Tracy and Dave are as cool as their little shop, …and creative  …and laid back, and I’m not just saying that because for the first time ever I didn’t have to hang my own pieces (and stress about how they are ordered). Thank you, Dave, thank you… Do you “freelance hang”?

If you’re in Narberth, stop by Sweet Mabel and buy all the things, because you will want to and life is short.  Also, you can’t take it with you, and you only live once, and all the cliches. If you think about it, shopping is the hunting and gathering of our time. If you’ve never heard of Narberth – gasp – go there today. Have some cheese, see a film, watch the crossing guard do her thing, buy a book from a real bookstore, go to Sweet Mabel and buy gifts for everyone (and yourself), go to the little market, smell the hardware store (even better than “library smell”), buy some wine and hop a train home (unless you drove, then don’t).

Also, take a look at the paper cutting on display, because it’s mine and I made it with love, which I think is the theme for one of the coolest towns on the main line.

Flock

Terrier

Day Dreamer

Rise and Shine

Sunflower

After Dark

Spring

Parrot Tulips

Hummingbird

Brown Paper Joy

Love Birds

Canned Heat

Last Days of Summer

Nest

Split Hares

Hive

Seafarers

Salt Box II

Honeycomb