The City

I know realize this didn't scan straight. Oh well. I drew this paper cutting while I was working, so pardon the lack of straight lines. This is a different paper than my other cuttings, its a bit thicker and holds up marvelously to thin lines. The really fine detail shows up poorly on the scan, but there are very thin lines in the clouds and in the triangular part of one of the buildings.

I had to go out and purchase a new exacto knife for this. I ran out of blades and the replacements I purchased were not the ones to the blade holder. That meant buying a new holder! Oh, that was fun being at the art store three days in a row. That was just a pain, especially since one of the days it was raining.

There won't be too many updates within the next few days. The quarter is wrapping up and I'm attempting to finish my thesis and my art project done along with these "one" hour drawings. This drawing took three, not one, but three. I can't wait until I can sleep in, in eight days!

Down by the Docks

I'm not going to lie, sometimes when I sit down to do paper cutting I simply have no idea what I want to put on paper. Then when I get something drawn I'm not too happy with it and end up winging things.

Well, I didn't particularly care for the docks when I drew the one. Then I started to get my detail in, and well it grew on me. I had to do a bit of taping because I cut something a bit too thin and it tore when I flipped things over. This was cut in white and when I scanned it into the computer I needed a different background, so the black appeared. I think I need to find some spray adhesive and get this attached so that nothing else breaks on this cutting.

Definitely my favorite so far. I can't wait until this quarter is over and I can actually frame a few of these. I would say I'd put them up around my apartment, but I'm moving out soon and there wouldn't be much of a point. For the next apartment though!

Camping is Intense

Lame joke, I know. But every time I see this paper cutting that's what comes to mind. The corny part of my brain wins out.

The reference for these tents was a platform tent from the camp I'm doing my thesis on. I really like this paper cutting, the amount of detail that I am able to get when I fold the paper over is simply delightful! I'm not too pleased with the color, but it's what I had on hand and the tent canvas is usually some ugly color. Not that this yellow is ugly, I just don't think it goes with the tent.

Bow Tie

I had a review again on Wednesday for these one hour drawings. That of course meant I was frantically working on these things all day on Tuesday. Maybe I should learn to manage my time a bit better? Well, I also scanned all of my drawings into my computer, yes scanned. I found out that I have 43 drawings! The three drawings I squeezed in on Tuesday, I did not actually need! 

I wish I would have know that before I lost feeling in my index finger. Nevertheless I really like this paper cutting. I was an architecture major in undergrad and we had a running joke that architects always wore bow ties, ALWAYS. It was required if you were to be a great architect, like Le Corbusier (one of our teachers adored him, so we were all very familiar with him and his bow tie). In light of those wonderful sleepless nights and the craziness that went on I came up with this, a glorified bow tie.

Stick a Needle in it!

I'm not going to lie I'm avoiding working on my thesis... And my art projects... I'm sorely eyeing up the alcohol in the fridge, its sooo tempting... I have to rearrange a large bulk of my thesis and delete quite a bit. Not looking forward to that, at all. But I know it has to be done. I'm also working on my final art project, which I had to take a break from because the permanent marker was getting to me.

I took a break with this lovely little piece of sewing. It's a heating pad. Yes, I know it's small. I'm fully aware it's simple. I know it'll come in useful. I get have a tendency of getting cramps during that time of month. Heating pads feel wonderful, I doubt they help, but I don't object to the heat when I start freezing.

I used some cotton fabric I purchased from the remnant rack. Cut out two rectangles, sewed the suckers together and filled them with some type of beans. I don't recall which ones as I normally don't eat the type I put in there; I stick to black and garbanzo beans. Then I sewed around the edges a quarter inch because I felt it was a wee bit too large for the amount of beans I poured in there. We'll see how well it works.

Until then I'm going to be eyeing up my sewing machine because I just purchased more fabric for a skirt and a dress. Those won't be done for at least another week. I am currently blocking access to my sewing machine with my art project as that HAS to be done by this Wednesday along with more of my one hour drawings. And I want the revised version of my thesis sent back to my professors by tomorrow evening. After those things are done, heck, after the thesis is sent I'm getting into the hard cider as a reward!

It's Just Peachy

Happy first day of March! You know what they say, in like a lion, out like a lamb. This was almost always true when I lived in Ohio, down here in Georgia it's a different story. Well, it's been raining a few of the past days and I dislike the rain. Don't get me wrong, it's needed but I have to bike through it and it's not pleasant! It's just peachy when I have to bike in a down pour.

Speaking of peaches! Here's another embroidering, this time of Princess Peach from Nintendo's Mario games. My first game I played on the gameboy was Donkey Kong, I think. It was the lovely game where Mario had to jump over the barrels to get to Donkey Kong and Princess Peach. That was back when the gameboy looked like and weighed as much as a brick. And the gameboy was technically my older brother's. From that I got going on my gaming. Not that I'm much of a gamer, heck I haven't played any gaming systems in months. I don't have one with me at grad school. I do miss being able to kill time and being engrossed in a complex story, but playing video games would not help me with getting my schoolwork done. I guess I'll just have to settle for embroidering game characters for now.

Floating Away

Over the weekend I didn't have a whole lot of time. I was attempting to get loose ends tied up with my thesis. My thesis is currently 53 pages and is in desperate need of revision. I finished up what I could, I'm still anxiously awaiting from a source, and sent the sucker off to my committee. I can get this sucker revised in two weeks before the quarter ends, just as long as my teachers get drafts back to me.

While I was attempting to sort out my own revisions and adding in more things I had forgotten I was working on this butterfly. I was going to embroider in some orange as that is the color these butterflies normally are, but this took well over two hours. Considering this is supposed to be a one-hour drawing I wasn't going to put that much effort into it. I'm noticing now that the wings aren't symmetrical... I'm nitpicking,  I know. I really feel the need to keep my sketchbook on me and actually draw thanks to these last two drawings. The bug has bitten me and knows I will have free time soon... Damn it...

Jellyfishing

I had a busy weekend again. This of course means my one hour drawings were embroidery. I find that my one hour embroideries are taking longer than one hour. Not that I mind that, it's so relaxing to sit and just embroider. It makes me want to draw more often, which after this quarter is over is just what I think I'll do.

Although, if I do draw more I highly doubt it will be sea creatures. I do like this jellyfish though. It was fairly easy to embroider. The reason its pink was because that was what thread I had on me, lots of shades of pink. The cloth is a bit wrinkly because I didn't have time to iron it quite yet. I spent an hour and a half scanning all of my one hour drawings into my computer. Sounds like bunches of fun doesn't it? Well, it wasn't. I had to scan everything because I'm required to turn in a CD at the end of the quarter with all of my drawings on it. I really want to keep ahead of that as my last day of work is also an important day at my work and it'll be more hectic than ever! Plus, if I do most of the tedious work now I'll have more free time later.

Oh Dear

When my drawing professor saw all of my one hour drawings more than a week ago, he only had one request from me: Draw more figures. Lovely. Figures aren't my strong suit, or at least I don't think they are. I did take a drawing class back in undergrad because I wanted to strengthen that. I can draw people, but I need larger paper for that because we drew them on large scale paper and it just helps me to flush problem areas out.

I'm not overly fond of this embroidery, but that's all right. I opted out of doing a face here, it didn't look right when I did it the first time. She's a bit out of wack in places. I really should start drawing in my sketchbook. Eh, I'll get around to that after this class is over.

Under the Sea

I've finally reached desperation in trying to find things to draw. By that I mean when I go to draw on my pieces of cloth for my one hour drawings I can't think of anything that I should sketch out! This is bothersome because I still have 20 more drawings to do for my class, yes 20. I'm over half way done! Now if I wasn't busier than all get out I would have had these 50 suckers all done in 50 days, but thesis had taken over most of my life. Yes, had. That sucker has been finished in rough draft form for a while. I'm just waiting on revisions. Waiting for those suck.

Anyway, I pulled out one of my old sketchbooks to see if I could find some inspiration. And indeed I did find some! I drew this octopus over a year ago. He looks almost exactly the same in my sketchbook, except he's in color here. I would simply love to paint him, but I don't have paints or canvas here.

I was working on this while talking to my roommate and she pipped up that she wanted him. Oi... At least I know this little guy is cute! I'm not fond of the cut towards the bottom left, this is what happens when I draw things too low on the cloth and use scrap pieces.

Would You Like Fries With That?

 I've decided that I really need to get better pictures of these one hour drawings! Or a better camera... Hm... Yeah, better pictures are just slightly more realistic. Oh the woes of a poor college student. I'll just add a super nice camera to the list of things I want after I graduate, along with furniture and heaps of other practical things.

Yes, this is a burger. Yes, I was super bored when I drew this. Yes, I was watching TV and saw an add for either McDonalds or Burger King. It was an inspired burger. While I don't believe this is all that great and I need to fill in the burger so that the color comes out better this seems to amuse my drawing classmates. Whatever floats their boat I guess. The burger really isn't bad, I'm just not fond of drawing or embroidering food.

Birds of A Feather

Another one hour drawing, this time I got slightly bored at work and started to draw one of the paintings that was in the area I was sitting in. For being in a historic house I can only sit a few places, especially within the house. I keep telling my coworkers that one of these days I'll be in period dress while working on embroidery on the couch that's in one of the rooms. And yes, I am allowed to sit on said couch, it was re-fluffed and the like so us employees could sit in one of the rooms to help keep an eye on things. Apparently people have sticky fingers or something of the like.  

I left out quite a bit of detail with this bird, but it was an hour in the making. I'm not too pleased with the critter, but it's a drawing and I'm working on my skill. I feel like a Victorian girl while I'm working on these, appropriate because I work in a house that dates to the Victorian time.

Beneath the Tree

This is another papercutting, in the ever lovely yellow paper. I had a lot of fun with this one and I have to say it turned out wonderfully.

The only thing I would have liked is to get some more detail into the figure at the bottom. I won't go back into this at the moment, but if I do another one I'm going to take more time for the person beneath the tree. This is probably my favorite paper cutting so far. I'm really liking how clean my new knife is cutting and how nice these bifolds come out.

Swirl Snowflake

I really like the design of this snowflake. It was pretty much just line work that worked out.

I drew this while I was chatting with my boyfriend the one day. I sometimes get antsy when I have to sit still for long periods of time and it helps when something is moving, like a foot or a hand. I just so happened to have a folded piece of paper next to me and here the result is. No... I did not cut this while chatting with the boy. I don't know how to get my phone on speaker and I need both of my hands to cut these.

Also, happy Lent for all of those who celebrate it. Yes, I am fully aware Lent is not supposed to be a happy, exciting time. I've decided that in these lovely 40 days before Easter I'm going to sew myself an Easter dress! I'm excited because it'll be the first garment in months that I have sewn! At least, that's the plan at the moment. I still have to dig through the patterns I have here to see what I have with me and if there's even a decent pattern to use for a dress. If not I'll have to go out and purchase a new pattern, oh darn!

Live in Knots

During the weekend that led up to the 15th I was attempting to get as many of my one hour drawings done as possible. I worked the entire weekend, which was my 4 days off from school. Not that I mind working at all! I like my job, but this was probably the only weekend I did not have one day off and other things that needed to get done.

I have time to sit and embroider at work, so this little thing came to be. I'm all right with it. It's not my favorite piece and the knots could have been done a bit better, but it was a rush job and well, it worked for what it needed to be.

We'll Meet Each Other There

I finally got away from just cutting out snowflakes! For this, I just folded a piece of paper in half and had fun. It's only yellow because I had extra of it and well, it needed to be used up somehow.

I decided to do an attempt with figures on this. They're not too bad, but there are definitely spots that could be a bit better, like the legs. I was very happy with how much detail I was able to get into this. Cutting through less paper seems to be key. Perhaps I'll actually get around to drawing on a single piece, then cutting. That's not looking promising.

Centered Off

I drew the pattern for this snowflake out a while ago. I had 30 of my lovely one hour drawings due on the 15th. So when did they all get done? Well... Most of them got done on the 14th, it was a lovely productive Valentines Day.

I tried to do something other than geometric designs with this snowflake. I'm quite happy with it, especially how the center turned out. I was originally going to have something else in the center but I accidentally cut out something important and this was just a result of that.

Leafing About

Sorry I haven't posted anything in two weeks! I had midterms, multiple art assignments due, and I finished the rough draft of my thesis. Needless to say it's been just a wee bit busy. Luckily for me things have calmed down just a bit and I've managed to get some one-hour drawings completed.

I'm still working on my lovely snowflakes, although I have branched out a bit. I was playing around with design and pattern on this one. I'm not very fond of the center but I do like how it looks as it goes out. Reminds me of looking at the top of a tree, a very symmetrical tree.

Please pardon the dinginess of my cutting board. My last project dealt with clear vinyl which I drew on with permanent marker. Well the permanent marker did NOT want to come off the material after I cut out the shapes and it got all over my cutting board in the process. Once I get around to taking my camera out to my studio I should be able to get a picture of my actual projects at some point.

Hearted

Happy Groundhog's Day! I hope the little rodent predicts spring is going to come soon. Who am I kidding?! The little stinker always sees his shadow and we get six more weeks of winter.

Today's paper cutting was a product of a few days before hand. I'm very pleased with the finished product here. There are a few places where I accidentally cut through the paper, but some of them you can't see.

I noticed as I was cutting this out that my shapes, which I had based off a spiked pattern were starting to look like hearts. Apparently I'm subconsciously starting to think about Singles Awareness Day -er I mean Valentines Day... I think I may play around with this and yesterdays flakes for one of my larger art projects. But we shall see how that all works out. All I know is I won't be able to feel my finger again after I finish project two, it's going to be larger then four 17.5 inch snowflakes which means more cutting... yay....

Bursted

Yet another paper cutting. Aren't ya'll just getting bored of these yet? Well I'm not getting bored of making them! My finger was recovered enough that I could attack some paper today, and attack I did.

When I started this snowflake off  was a bit worried because of all the curve in it. Luckily those curves didn't do quite the number I thought they were going to on my finger. Don't get me wrong, it still hurts because I went ahead and started experimenting with different materials (baaaaaad idea). I have to say I really like this design.

I'm definitely enjoying this paper cutting but my sewing machine is starting to get jealous of my exact knife. Unfortunately, I won't be sewing anything for myself, with the exception of embroidery, until after my thesis is finished. Although, I may get adventurous when my rough draft is finished. We shall see. Until then, I hope you all are enjoying what I've been working on!