Love in NYC

I've been a busy bee over the past month - I've had a few more papercuts to complete, I've got a new job, and managed to get away to Zante for a week too! So it's been all go! But I wanted to share a papercut I'm particularly proud of which I finished shortly before my holiday a fortnight ago.

This is, without a doubt, the most challenging papercut I've done! So far all my designs have been nature-orientated. Using organic shapes means I can be more flexible with my designs as the natural shapes can be easily manipulated to piece together a good composition. The brief for this cut, however, was that the artwork had to be New-York-themed as it was a gift to celebrate the engagement of the client's daughter (an old school friend of mine) which took place in Central Park. To create a successful paper cut design using manmade, rigid structures was admittedly a challenge, but one I'm pleased to have undertaken. It's helped me break out of my comfort zone and expand my portfolio, and the client was extremely pleased - as were her daughter and fiancé!

Autumn, my favourite season

Just a couple of snaps I took one chilly, November morning whilst taking our dog for his morning walk. Boothorpe is beautiful...

Degree Show work

I thought I'd post some samples of my work that I submitted for my final university deadlines - better late than never! I created a set of 4 greetings cards in response to a competition held by YCN for UK Greetings, whereby we were asked to produce a collection of cards for an occasion of our choosing. Since I have a fondness for old maps & used postcards and working over collaged backgrounds, I saw this as an opportunity to create a range of cards with a 'travel' theme.

Using a combination of lino print, collage, and traditional rubber letter stamps I produced these cards. Although I like the outcome, I intend on reworking these at some point in the future to try to simplify & brighten the aesthetic.

An area of illustrative design I'm going to explore in more depth over the coming months are repeat surface patterns. Using a leaf design I carved from a sheet of linoleum I created these patterned backgrounds, which I also wish to revisit in the near future to create a more complex design featuring additional leaf designs.