I’m a paper junkie. I collect bits and scraps of paper from anywhere to use in my art. My favorite recently has been the packing slips in Chinese from the lamps my wife bought. Tissue thin paper with oriental calligraphy. They’ll find a home someday.
When I’m feeling flush, though, I head to The Paper Place on Queen St. in Toronto. There, I can spend many dollars on many sheets of deliciously textured and colored paper.
The Lilies image here, one of several I’ve done recently, is a result of a paper cutting experiment I tried. I took several sheets of paper in various colors and textures and cut oval shapes from them. I then painted a 12″x36″ canvas and started arranging shapes. By cutting a few curved pieces of paper, the flowers just seemed to appear. I finished the design with some quick pastel embellishments and a spray of varnish.