by ruralpearl | Oct 15, 2012 | Cut Paper, Inspiration
“I have no right to call myself one who knows. I was one who seeks, and I still am, but I no longer seek in the stars or in books; I’m beginning to hear the teachings of my blood pulsing within me. My story isn’t pleasant, it’s not sweet and harmonious like the invented stories; it tastes of folly and bewilderment, of madness and dream, like the life of all people who no longer want to lie to themselves.”
“The things we see,” Pistorius said softly, “are the same things that are within us. There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself. You can be happy that way. But once you know the other interpretation you no longer have the choice of following the crowd. Sinclair, the majority’s path is an easy one, ours is difficult.”
-Hermann Hesse, Demian
by ruralpearl | Oct 9, 2012 | Cut Paper
Melissa, the new owner of “Midnight Garden”, was kind enough to send me this photo after she hung my paper cutting in her home. I love the color scheme that she has going on. Look like it fits right in!
by ruralpearl | Oct 3, 2012 | Cut Paper, Inspiration
I’m almost finished cutting this out.. I just need to rework the central design since I’ve been changing things as I go. I’ve got the colors picked out and will start on that soon (that’s the most time consuming part).
This Saturday, I’ll be exhibiting at the Oktoberfest in my hometown of Atchison, KS. It’s always a nice little show. I’ll be doing a quick run of new prints and cards for that shortly. I’m looking forward to getting out with my camera afterwards to try to catch some of the fall colors. I’ve been watching leaves fall from the trees to the ground as I sit at my desk.
This morning I went for my usual run on the river levy. The sun was bright (almost blindingly so), and there was a mist sitting about 6 feet off the ground in the grassy areas, and together, the sun and the mist illuminated an amazing network of cobwebs, appearing as if the entire field was woven together. The dew on everything was sparkling bright which brought lots of my attention to all different kinds of plants growing alongside the trail.. The entire scene inspired my next paper cutting idea. Can’t wait to start on it.
by ruralpearl | Oct 3, 2012 | Cut Paper
A recent commission based on my previous paper cutting “In Line For Takeoff”.
by ruralpearl | Oct 1, 2012 | Cut Paper
“Mandalas are everywhere. They are the structures of our cells, our world, and our universe.” -Author Unknown
Working on this paper cutting slowly but surely. Taking my time with it. Thinking about colors, etc..
by ruralpearl | Sep 27, 2012 | Cut Paper
Conjoined mandalas.. I had a dream involving a mandala the other night. It was made of concrete and it was floating in the sky in place of the sun. Mandalas mean different things in different cultures. When I started doing these circular geometric shapes, they were representative of something microscopic — something that you’d have to look deeply at to see. The more I made, the more I enjoy making them. There’s certainly a meditational aspect of it for me. I also love the fact that they are infinite – I could continually add layers if I had the paper.
I’m referencing information I got off of Wikipedia here: According to the psychologist David Fontana, its symbolic nature can help one “to access progressively deeper levels of the unconscious, ultimately assisting the meditator to experience a mystical sense of oneness with the ultimate unity from which the cosmos in all its manifold forms arises.” The psychoanalyst Carl Jung saw the mandala as “a representation of the unconscious self,” and believed his paintings of mandalas enabled him to identify emotional disorders and work towards wholeness in personality.
According to Google, mandalas are:
1. A geometric figure representing the universe in Hindu and Buddhist symbolism.
2. Such a symbol in a dream, representing the dreamer’s search for completeness.
by ruralpearl | Sep 27, 2012 | Cut Paper
Feels so good to be doing a little drawing and cutting…
by ruralpearl | Sep 25, 2012 | Cut Paper, Inspiration
“‘Men have forgotten this truth,’ said the fox. ‘But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.'” -Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I was reading a little Antoine de Saint-Exupery earlier and remembered this paper cutting I did a very long time ago –sometime in 2008, I think. If you can’t tell, it’s supposed to be a fox jumping between two hands. The background was part cut paper, part coffee stains, part photoshop coloring. I wish I could achieve that look using only paper — maybe one of these days I’ll do some experimenting and figure it out. Anyway, “The Little Prince” is one of my all time favorite books. Even though I had my first copy when I was a kid, I didn’t ‘get it’ until I reread it a few years ago. Here’s a few more quotes from Saint-Exupery:
“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
“True love begins when nothing is looked for in return.”
“In giving you are throwing a bridge across the chasm of your solitude.”
“That is the hardest thing of all. It is much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself, it’s because you’re truly a wise man.”
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
“What he had yearned to embrace was not the flesh but a down spirit, a spark, the impalpable angel that inhabits the flesh.”
“Behind all seen things lies something vaster; everything is but a path, a portal or a window opening on something other than itself. ”
“I know but one freedom, and that is the freedom of the mind.”
And here’s one more quote, one of my very first paper cuttings that I made when I was still cutting on a piece of wood.. These old ones are some of the most meaningful to me. I still have them.
by ruralpearl | Sep 7, 2012 | Cut Paper
2.5 x 4 inch paper cutting. Sold.
by ruralpearl | Sep 3, 2012 | Cut Paper, New Work!
8 x 10 inch commissioned paper cutting based on my original work “Tea For Two” — but with owls.
