My fascination with the animal kingdom has been with me since childhood. The trips to the zoo were shear delight and I never wanted to go home. My favorite exhibit was always the big cats. You know, lions and tigers and cheetahs oh my!!!!!
On a recent visit to the zoo with my grandchildren, we visited the big cat pavilion. There perched lazily on a tree limb was a magnificent leopard. He was just sprawled out on the limb without a care in the world. Yet, he was aware of everything around him. At one point, I thought our eyes met and we stared at eachother for quite some time. That image remained, burned in my memory. I wanted to make a papercut of the leopard in the hopes of capturing that lazy look and feel of his presence on that limb.
Slowly and carefully I began cutting only the shadows of this magnificent cat until I was able to let my eyes and imagination fill in the black areas. There he was, perched on that limb, in all of his glory, just as I remembered him at the zoo. And for just a split second, our eyes met once again.
More of my animal papercuts can be viewed on my gallery page and purchased on my online store. Please send me a comment and tell me how you liked the papercut. Until next posting, have a wonderful day and happy cutting.