Papercut portraits was my first venture into papercutting. When looking at a photo portrait in black and white, I was always fascinated by the shadows, the light cast on these subjects faces. Sometimes accidental and sometimes deliberate, they always played tricks on my eyes.
I had wondered what the portrait would look like if only the shadows remained. And, so my journey began. I chose Elvis Presley as my first subject because I grew up with his wonderful music. I had many books and record albums of his music. I carefully chose one portrait and examined the shadows carefully. I photocopied the portrait, increasing and decreasing the intensity of the black until I came up with enough detail to begin cutting. When I had finished my papercut, I stood back, looked closely at the portrait I had created and saw the King of Rock and Roll. Not a complete portrait , just the shadows, and my eyes were filling in the empty spaces. There was Elvis in all of his splendor.
I hope that you like the papercuts of Elvis in his many stages of performing. The rest of his papercut portraits can be seen on my website and my flickr site on yahoo. Until my next entry, have a wonderful day and happy cutting.
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