Each year I send out handmade, paper-cut Xmas cards to family, friends, and regular clients. These articles explain their development and production.
EXACTLY 100 YEARS AGO, somewhere in England, an unknown silhouettist was cutting portraits and pasting them to an Xmas Greetings card. I know nothing about the artist and have never seen any other stylistically-similar silhouettes which I could attribute to them with any confidence.
I’M NOT SURE WHY IT TOOK me so long to return to the theme of the Madonna and Child. The last time I created a card with this motif was in 1996. It was one of my first ever handmade Christmas cards! Since then it became an annual tradition.
MANY WILL KNOW that as an artist working in paper I’ve always taken Christmas cards very seriously. I like to send handmade cards to anybody who booked me for an event over the previous 12 months. This year’s card features Ebenezer Scrooge.
HAVE YOU ALREADY MADE PLANS for Christmas? Or are you, like me, completely stuck? I’ve been thinking about silhouette cutting as an online ‘gift experience’ and holding onto the idea that silhouettes still make interesting and personal mementos of the unique times we’re all living through.
