Night Fishing

This paper cut or silhouette  was designed using the heron pictured below as the central element. This silhouette is cut from a single piece of paper using an exacto knife. The background is watercolor on paper.There is further depth resulting from the two separate pieces lying one on top of the other.

The challenge for me was working out the design and composition so that it is cut  in a single, continuous piece without making the  connections too important in the design.

Working with papercuts, woodblocks, stencils, even batik, seems to have helped me understand composition better. The one dimensional nature of those mediums forces close attention to line and shape which I think is good practice for watercolor - which has no such restrictions, and seems to lose form and dimension so easily.

The image looks so different to me when reversed; it took me some time to get used to it. In order to cut it I had to draw it first in white colored pencil. So, once it was cut, it had to be reversed because of the left over colored pencil marks - some of which I decided not to cut out.








I've used this heron as the central figure in a few different design projects over the years. It is from a book of Victorian clip art. I would like to acknowledge and give credit to that unknown artist of yore that created this lovely design, which I have the pleasure of adapting for a design of my own.