ALL I CAN SAY IS . . . OH MY

I live fairly close to the world-renowned (Leigh Yawkey) Woodson Art Museum. One of their current exhibits features the work of Canadian paper artist, Calvin Nicholls. I have been a
fan of Mr. Nicholls' work for a long time. In fact, I have one of my favorite pieces of his
pinned on Pinterest. http://pinterest.com/pin/81979655687132545/

This is a link to his website: http://calvinnicholls.com/

Calvin Nicholls is currently the Artist in Residence for a few days, and last night the museum thrilled his fans by presenting Mr. Nicholls in all his personal glory. He gave a brief talk ex-
plaining his slide show, did a demonstration of his methods, hosted a brief Q&A, and then . . .

 . . . we were all invited into a work room where the supplies were all ready for us to create
a la Calvin Nicholls! Our project was to build a much-simplified owl that he had designed.
Four sheets of paper contained the pieces to cut out, step-by-step assembly instructions,
as well as a drawing of what the completed owl should look like. He was there to guide us
through any problems we may have encountered.

It didn't take very long before we had a beautiful little piece of Nicholls-esque art to take 

home with us. This is my finished version.

I had some trouble with the lighting in trying to portray the dimension and beauty of this 

simple piece, but this is the best I could come up with after much trial and error. I am proud 

that I created this, and in some way, have a little piece of Calvin Nicholls' work in my possession.

The following two photos show detail from two of the pieces that are on exhibit at the Woodson Art Museum.

This is work that is definitely enjoyed best up close and personal. Only by examining how he creates each little feather and piece of fur, as well as the poses and personality of his subject matter, can you appreciate how much time and work go into creating just one square inch of 

one of his pieces.

Since this is a Stampin' Up! blog, I thought I'd add a little bit of creativity a la Stampin' Up!

Obviously, this is a completely different style of art, but wondrous and precious in its 

own right.

This bag topper was created with the Top Note die in my Big Shot. And the eyes and beak 

were created with punches. Note the eye shadow and the eyes popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals to create depth and "drama". OK. Maybe not so much drama, but I love him 

anyway!

Sorry for the digression from my usual Paper Seedlings posts. But, being a big fan of paper cutting -- please note my propensity for paper piecing in past posts -- I was so thrilled to be 

able to witness something as special as I did last night.

Smiles.