Tuesday, December 29, 2009

MR. TOAST'S CREATIVE TUESDAYS: MUSIC AND MERRIMENT





This is my offering, Music and Merriment, for Mr. Toast’s Creative Tuesdays:

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been listening to a Celtic Christmas CD with predominately Irish fiddle music (blame it on my ancestors) :), and I must say that the ultimate festive Christmas song for me is I Saw Three Ships. That song was really a catalyst for me to start thinking of Christmases of the past way before Internet, i-PODS, CD’S or even radio was around to entertain. So, my concept is a festive 19th century evening( could be in Ireland, England, or even in Appalachia) with a father playing fiddle for his two young children as they sit opposite one another on stools, clapping along to the lively accompaniment.

The illustration technique is called Scherenschnitte ( German for paper-cuts). It's often referred to as "drawing with scissors". I also added some pen and ink accents. This takes silhouette cutting a bit further by incorporating scenery and also line drawing(outline) into the image. I first drew a line drawing of my subjects, then used the drawn figures as templates to make paper-cuts ( with surgical scissors and a sharp scalpel to cut out/in really small details). I then added the musical notes and scrolling design with a pen…

What a fun theme…I hope you enjoy!

15 comments:

Michael said...

Whoa, Rebecca, the detail on these paper-cuts is astounding, even if they had been drawn, let alone cut out with scissors! I note the boys' fingers in particular. Love it.

Great craftsmanship and technique, but also love the idea of christmasses of old with people making merry with instruments and festive sing alongs. How very fun indeed. Your pen and ink adornments really do make it that much more fetive as wel. And, i must note hwo you wrote "Festive" in teh title. Great great. I've taken note of your entry, my icon on your side bar and will add your two entries to the kick off drawing!

I just added a link to your blog as well on my side bar but was unable to get a unique URL address for this specific post, noticing too none of your posts have that actually?. Makes if difficult them to refer back to blog posts of old the. So, you may want to look that up.

So, can we expect you to do a bit of an irish jog for our amusement now too?

Unknown said...

Love it! Thanks for explaining your illustrative technique. I enjoyed it very much.

Anonymous said...

Nice project. That technique must be very tedious. I would be shaking all over. You are an amazing woman. Full of talent and fun. Happy New Year to you and yours.
QMM

Betsy Brock said...

It's beautiful, Rebecca! :) Quite creative and wow...lots of talent to do that!

lissa said...

great details and I like the music idea, just right for creative tuesday

Christine said...

wow, this is really professional. Impressive and beautiful work.

Anonymous said...

This is very beautiful! So intricate and detailed. I had never heard of Scherenschnitte.
It is definetely festive! I can almost hear the music and see the smiles on their faces as they dance! And the musical notes are so cool. Congrats on a job well done, rebecca!

Rebecca said...

Thank you all for your very kind words...What a fun theme to work with, so must thank Mr. Toast for the challenge...Can't wait to see the wonderful offerings from everyone with the next theme. :)

FireLight said...

Rebecca, this is marvelous! Do you ever sell these?
I sent you an electronic Christmas card via eamil. It is designed by
English artist Jacquie Lawson...I think you will enjoy it!

Michael said...

Oh yes, you really could sell these.

BTw, Rebecca, thanks for pointing out you couldn't sign up for the next CREATIVE TUESDAY theme. It's fixed now. Please do so back on my blog, if you'd be so kind. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Rebecca,
WOW.. great job... you need to mass produce your creative art and make some money!! I like that musical string... it brings everything to life! Happy New Year and have a cuppa! The Bach

Brian Miller said...

wow. how very cool. great job...just wanted to drop by and say happy new year as well!

Tess Kincaid said...

Rebecca, how did I miss this fabulous piece? I love it!! I just saw a wonderful, huge framed cut out piece in the latest Elle Decor and thought to myself, hey, I could do this. Now, I'm really inspired. :^)

Rebecca said...

...Thank you, everyone....

Yes, I do offer them for sale and I have many that will be on exhibit next month at a local gallery here. I will take pictures of the artists reception and post them here or on the Drawing Society Blog, or both.

Willow, you could absolutely do this! It's a very old art form and one that I just got back into this year. My mother first taught me to do this when I was little..You've already got a keen imagination and are so very creative..all you need is inspiration; a steady hand; some very sharp scissors and a scalpel knife:)...Have fun exploring!

ChaChaneen said...

What can I say that hasn't already been said by our blog friends here? Absolutely beautiful treasures! Please do share pictures of your gallery spotlight! FUN< FUN< FUN!