Our February Artist of the month goes to tissue paper artist + illustrator Stacey Elaine who makes delicately layered and complex paper cuts impressed by a wide range of colourful sources.
Stacey Elaine
“The perfect factor about this medium is its delicate nature.”
The place do you make your paper artwork?
I make my work at my eating room desk, surrounded by pure mild from home windows that look out into my yard. I like watching the birds within the bush proper outdoors the home windows. I like feeling like I am within the coronary heart of my dwelling after I’m making. The draw back? Having to place everything- even unfinished works- tucked away safely after every session so my boys have a desk for homework, artwork tasks of their very own, and dinner! It will be wonderful to have a studio area sometime, the place I might go away in-progress items on the prepared….however for now, this works simply tremendous.
How lengthy have you ever been working with paper?
I have been working with tissue paper since 2017, when my youngest was taking lengthy afternoon naps and I felt an amazing urge to make issues with my palms.
How would you describe your strategy to paper artwork?
My strategy to paper artwork is….sculptural. You would not assume tissue paper might be sculptural, however after I’m reducing designs into the fragile layers, I am doing so with a sculptor’s sensibility. How will this curve look? Are these traces attention-grabbing? Stunning? Additionally, is my depiction of this animal in line with my private fashion and aesthetic? More often than not, my predominant focus is making one thing that’s stunning or attention-grabbing to have a look at. I do not essentially have every other finish objective in thoughts for a chunk after I start. Some have ended up as greeting playing cards, some murals, some on textiles, others as framed artistic endeavors. I prefer to create after which let the small print kind themselves out later.
The place do you discover inspiration?
I am impressed by a lot in nature, however I am additionally impressed by how nature has been depicted all through the centuries by different artists and makers. I discover inspiration in international folks artwork, notably in India and Mexico. I discover it in high-end style textiles that seem on runways. I discover it in Inuit soapstone sculptures and mid-century picket collectible figurines. Understanding what I like and am drawn to has helped me fine-tune my very own fashion.
Describe your work to us in three phrases:
My work is exclusive, celebratory, and complex.
What are your favourite papers to work with?
I work solely with tissue paper.
What software might you not stay with out?
I couldn’t stay with out my reducing mat and Xacto knife.
What’s the neatest thing about working with paper as a medium?
The perfect factor about this medium is its delicate nature. I am so snug working with it now, however it took a while to develop the finesse required to work confidently. I believe that facet of my work is what makes it particular to my collectors.
Inform us extra about your course of:
My items are created by free-hand reducing designs into layers of tissue paper, which I then organize and seal down onto heavyweight, sizzling press watercolor paper utilizing matte Modge Podge. The reducing is the smoothest half for me; the sealing could be fairly tedious and I’ve to be utterly targeted in order to not use an excessive amount of liquid glue in anybody spot, which might trigger the tissue to dissolve and tear.
