Mindful Art Studio - Art journaling and mindful creation from the heart

Paper Cut Art Journal Tutorial

04.02.2019 by Amy Johnson Maricle // 2 Comments

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Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

There is so much that’s beautiful and intriguing to me about a paper cut art journal. You might remember that I did my first one a few months ago, and shared it in this post. Now that I’ve begun my second one, I thought it would be fun to walk you through a paper cut art journal tutorial so you can try it yourself. You’ll find a list of materials at the end of this post. But first, let’s get to the juicy part with some pictures and tips!

For this page, I’m using a simple leaf shape. It’s one I love to cut. Because I work intuitively, and usually without planning, I pay attention to not only what I think might look good, but what feels good guides me too.

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Paper Cutting Technique

Be sure to cut towards yourself, use your other hand to steady the page, and be careful to keep your hand out of the path of the blade.

Cut completely end to end, and resist the urge to pull pieces out, as the tears look messy. However, you might like that look, and do the entire page that way, which could be a cool look too!

Paper Cutting as an Intuitive Art

Developing my own “vocabulary” of organic and geometric shapes is one of parts of the intuitive paper cutting process that I have found most fun. I went through a process of deep exploration, pushing each technique to see what I could do with it, and mining my own scratch pages for unique ideas. I walk you through this same process in my paper cutting class, Layers of Light. It’s thrilling to see my students creating in ways I never dreamed possible with paper.

Allow your shape to multiply in a pattern you find pleasing. Take your time, and enjoy the process. Paper cutting is something you can leave out and work on a little bit at a time. Just be sure to keep sharps safe from animals and children.

This is my happy place. I love seeing what develops before me. Working intuitively is such an adventure. I don’t know what will happen next. Sometimes I love what happens, and sometimes I don’t, but often those “mistakes” lead me to change things up and get more interesting. You’ll see how that happens with this series of pages.

One of the things that makes paper cut art journals so fascinating is the way you work with layers. Because of the holes, each page has a relationship to the pages around it. I go more in depth into this in my class, Layers of Light.

See how that circle added a peek-a-boo window and frame to the pages that came before? Isn’t that fascinating?

In Layers of Light, we develop your voice as an artist through paper cutting. It’s not a cookie cutter class, but rather, I teach you paper cutting skills and techniques, and take you through a process for finding your unique voice with organic, geometric, and other patterns. Then I help you learn some basic skills in using yupo paper, alcohol inks, and ways to think about layering paper cuts.

Paper Cut Projects

Students make paper cut light boxes, paper installations, alcohol ink paper cut collages, paper cut art journals, tiny, intricate organic paper cut forms, and large scale undulating wave pieces, just to name a few projects.

It’s so cool when you can surprise yourself, and it keeps happening for me in paper cutting, and for my students as well. Each time I think I know the limits of this beautiful art form, another artist proves me wrong.

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Check out what you can do with paper cutting – you’ll be amazed:

Materials List for Paper Cutting:

Journal:

Sketchbook Project Journal from the Brooklyn Art Library – this is a super cool global art project that I LOVE!

10 Pack Scout Books Journals

Paper – If you’d prefer not to use a journal:

Strathmore 300 Series Drawing Paper, 11 x 14, 50 sheets for $6.37

Legion Stonehenge Light Paper, 11 x 14, 30 sheets for $29.42

Paper Cutting Knife:

Xacto Gripster Knife #11: $17.93

(OR you can try the Excel Gripster Knife #11: $3.85, I have not tried this one, but it’s been recommended by many paper cutting artists I love.)

Paper Cutting Replacement Blades:

#11 Xacto Blades, pack of 40: $11.89

(OR #11 Excel Blades, pack of 100: $17.01)

Paper Cutting Mat:

Self-Healing Cutting Mat , 18×24 inches: $25.99

I’d love to hear what intrigues you about paper cutting. Also, if you enjoy this post, share it with a friend on Pinterest. Just use the Pinit button that pops up on any picture.

Creatively Yours,

Amy

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. That means, at no extra cost to you, if you choose to click and purchase something, you’ll support the work of Mindful Art Studio to empower the artist in all of us. Thanks!

Making Art with Simple Materials

03.07.2019 by Amy Johnson Maricle // 34 Comments

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Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

When was the last time you felt completely engrossed in your creative process? Lately I’ve been incredibly engrossed in my art, making art with simple materials. I’d like to help you imagine the same for yourself. In your mind’s eye, imagine yourself doing the following, and see what it feels like:

You carry a small sketchbook and drawing pen with you everywhere, making little notes and sketches as something catches your eye, or an idea strikes. When you open your sketchbook, you see patterns, shapes, and notes for your art pieces. It’s a jumble of scribbles, sketches, notes, and little drawings. It’s not neat and perfect, it’s an inspiring place where ideas are free to co-mingle and marinate. Art making is not just something you do when you sit down at your art table, it’s something you weave into your life.

When you sit down to create, you flip through your journal for inspiration, and pull out some paper to play with one of the ideas. You sit for hours, making slow, steady progress, noticing the shapes emerging, the sounds of art making, and your breathing. You finish tired and happy.

It sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?

This could be your story. Playing with simple art materials has offered me incredible creative license, and I want to show you that it can for you too.

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Making art with simple materials – just paper and a blade, is incredibly satisfying.

Limitation is the fuel of my creative fire.

But really, I am working with so much more than paper. Once you cut into a page, you begin dancing with light and shadow. All your focus is on shape, form, rhythm, and the way you let the light in.

Wouldn’t you like to let some more light into your life?

Enter your name and email for your PDF

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When you give yourself limited materials and permission to create intuitively, without a plan, magic can happen.

I’ve got a brand new class, Layers of Light, that focuses on this kind of intuitive approach to paper cutting. Paper cutting is an old craft and art form, but it’s usually practiced in a very planned, exacting way. I want to open the door for you to create in a way that fills your soul, and brings you delight.

You can learn to paper cut from a pattern. But when you learn to create intuitively, building your own mark making “vocabulary” you open up to your unique expressive voice. You can do more than you think with your art.

Creatively Yours,

Amy

Getting Started with Intuitive Paper Cutting

I’d love to show you more of what I mean. Enter your name and email to get a free copy of my PDF guide: Getting Started with Paper Cutting. You’ll also join the Mindful Art Studio community.

Get your FREE PDF here:

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How to Develop Your Artistic Style

02.12.2019 by Amy Johnson Maricle // 8 Comments

Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

Here’s what I most want you to know about how to develop your artistic style: you can’t force it. When coaching clients and students tell me they want to develop a style, I suggest that what they need is not a style, but a consistent art practice.

When you make art consistently, and with permission to experiment and indulge your curiosities, over time you accrue a body of work around some common themes. These themes are what help make an artist’s work recognizable. I can see my themes across mediums, which is pretty exciting. Art lets us dive deeply into the things we feel passionate about. I want to help you get there too, so here’s a few secrets to get you started.

Secrets of How to Develop Your Artistic Style

How to Develop Your Artistic Style, Secret #1: Make a Lot of Junk

There are a few things many people don’t realize about being an artist. First, even incredibly talented artists make terrible art. A lot of what artists make is total junk. You never see it, but it’s there in the studio. Of course, few artists will exhibit their test pieces, or works that went to the cutting room floor. All this junk is necessary though. You have to make a ton of junky art in order to open space for the magic. So experiment freely, and give yourself permission to make a bunch of mistakes.

Just before an important rehearsal, an acting coach once told me to make as many mistakes as I possibly could. It was the most freeing advice ever. With permission to make mistakes, I was able to focus purely on feeling the part, because I wasn’t nervous. I take his advice often. So please, make as many mistakes as you can, right now. If you really struggle with this, you might love my class, Freeing the Muse.

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How to Develop Your Artistic Style, Secret #2: Push the Boundaries

The second secret to developing your artistic style is that you need to produce a lot of art in order to find your own way. Whatever your art form – writing, singing, dancing, or paper cutting, you begin acquiring skills by copying, imitating, and testing. When you only make 1 or 2 of something, there’s too much pressure to get it “right.” Also, over time, as you gain mastery, you put your own twist on things, and the art process becomes more adventurous, and your work reflects the freshness of your unique expression. Your work evolves from imitation, to something new that pulls influences from various resources. This post about working small can help.

How to Develop Your Artistic Style, Secret #3: Let Your Interests Evolve

The third “secret” about developing your own style is that it changes over time. Think about some of the great artists – Picasso worked in drawings, watercolors, prints, sculpture, and oil paintings. He allowed his interests and curiosities to lead the way. Even within his works on canvas, he shifted from realism, to the blue period, to Cubism, and of course there were other phases as well. Picasso allowed himself to explore life through art as it presented itself to him and to dive deeply into it. He was willing to go in new directions that weren’t easily recognizable as his “style.” Good art demands that you create a lot, and take a lot of risks. Why not give yourself this permission to play? This is a fun art journaling technique.

How to Develop YOUR Artistic Style:

Here’s my question to you: What would happen if you pretended that you had permission to dive deeply into your art process? To dedicate time to it? To work in a series, hone your skills, and push boundaries? What if you pretended that you had as much “permission” as Picasso to experiment, and indulge in your art process? What would that feel like? Visualize this: when you wake up tomorrow morning, a miracle has happened, and you are dedicated to open play and experimentation in your art process – what does your morning look like? Your day? Your evening? What changes have miraculously taken place?

So that’s my advice: Stop trying to develop your “style” and start making more art. You can do it. You are an artist like any other, and if you are waiting for permission to indulge in your art process, here it is: Dig deeper. Make more. Let a bunch of it really suck.

Helping You Take Your Art Further

Learning to push your artistic techniques is one of the best parts of the process for me, and one I love sharing with students. It’s also a cornerstone of my upcoming class, Layers of Light. It’s a mindful and intuitive approach to paper cutting. I’ll help you build up the foundational skills and make YOUR way through paper cutting. I’m tickled just thinking about all the amazing work you’ll create and the unexpected places you’ll take it. I’ll be putting the class on pre-sale soon, very soon, so stay tuned and let me know in the comments if you are excited to learn more.

In the meantime, answer those questions for yourself, and get ready to get really messy, tired, happy, and feeling accomplished because you’ve learned a lot, produced a lot, and you have one or two pieces you feel really good about this week.

Creatively Yours,

Amy