Paper Cutting

Today I have been in the studio cutting paper to make these images of peacocks - this is related to my research into Death on the Nile about the character Linnet Ridgeway who is the first victim of murder in the story. 

This was the first paper cut I completed which was based on a rough in my sketchbook. I wanted to use the peacock's tail feathers as a symbol for wealth and beauty and I wanted to show how this can backfire on people. I tried to make the feathers into a tidal wave coming towards the body of the peacock which I think is clear once my intentions have been explained, but otherwise not so clear. The pearls around the neck suggest wealth and I wanted this to carry on through the feathers but the white circles in my opinion don't effectively show that they are also meant to be pearls. I think I need to work on how to make this clear in my next attempts. 

I worked closer up view of the peacock here so I could work with detail more easily - this would hopefully make it easier for me to make the circles look like pearls. I think this has been effective as I have used the same technique on the necklace as I have on the tail and head feathers. I think this has been my most successful outcome of the day. I am really pleased with the image as a whole, especially the composition as I hadn't really planned it out before I started cutting it. 

This is meant to be a closeup of the peacock's tail feathers, again working on showing the circles as pearls. This is my least favourite outcome of the day as I don't think it looks very elegant. I was trying to use the connotations of elegance, wealth and beauty that people relate to peacocks, to describe Linnet Ridgeway in Death on the Nile but I think the chunky and uneven shapes in this don't work very well to show this. I think to improve I would have cut away thinner strips to reveal the purple so most of the image was white with only a few delicate lines. 

I feel like today has been productive. It has been good to get out of my sketchbook and get some bigger pieces of work done and try an new process. Working with white and only one colour is starting to make me think more about print. I am planning on using one of these designs to experiment with lino printing next, but these could also be used in mono printing or screen printing too.