Sarah Dee

Sarah Dee the Beard Queen

8" x 7"

Canson Mi-Teintes paper on Canson Mi-Teintes board 

My camera did not do justice on the background colour :( It's a bit more vibrant and less of a pale olive colour. 

For the summer art challenge at my workplace we had to do a portrait of one of our coworkers in a certain style or technique. I was given Miss Sarah Dee and paper cutting, and seriously paper cutting is really hard. My supervisor lent me a book all about modern day paper cutout artists and the work they produce is mind boggling! It's a totally different way of working for me, usually I plan the basic picture then build it up as I go but for this I had to really plan it all out from the beginning. The result is really amazing too, the feeling of holding this lacy piece of artwork you spent hours cutting out is thrilling! And they look so good once they're framed, my gosh.

Close-ups and mandatory low-side-view pictures.

My final image done on photoshop before cutting the paper.

I'm going to try and make some more cutouts through the year, I want to incorporate them into some paintings and see what I can do with them. One of the most frustrating and rewarding projects I've done in awhile. If you guys want to see it in real life drop by the Oakville Curry's any time, it's hanging up there somewhere waiting for your eyes!