Everything's Coming Up Flowers!

Florals: Hello Spring! is a new show at Seaside Art Gallery in Nags Head, NC! You can view this show online or or in person. This beautiful show welcomes in spring with the wonderful array of colorful flower paintings and sculptures in a variety of different mediums and lots of different flowers.

These cone flowers, iris and thistles all have one two things in common. They all have monarch butterflies visitng them and all six paper sculptures are a part of the Florals: Hello Spring! art show. I am thrilled to have all six of my paper sculptures be a part of this show.

#BirdArtWeek2025

Cornell Lab of Ornithology Invites Artists to Share their Bird Art During #BirdArtWeek2025 on Instagram - (@cornellbirds) in a week long event where you could post images of your bird art work. Even though I am not currently working on a paper sculpture of a bird, I have definitely created many birds over the years. I drew many illustrations of birds for magazine editorial pages such as these robins and also my own line of Can You Find?® greeting cards such as this owl illustration . But, I also created many three-dimensional birds out of hand cut paper and paint. I thought it would be fun to see how many paper sculpted birds I created over the years. Here’s a few examples:

That’s a lot of birds! There are probably a few more that I missed, but I like this sampling! Do you think I should make another paper sculpted bird? Which one should I do next? Some of the three-dimensional paper sculpted birds are available for purchase. Please let me know if you would like more information.

Jellyfish Aquarium

As an artist, I am thrilled to introduce my latest creation, the Jellyfish Aquarium. This intricate piece of art measures 4.5" x 7.5" and is made using a combination of paper watercolor and gouache.

The Jellyfish Aquarium features a stunning sculptural representation of a jellyfish, elegantly showcased within a clear cylindrical enclosure. This unique setup gives the impression of a sample collected for scientific observation or display, adding an element of curiosity and wonder to the artwork.

The jellyfish sculpture itself is a sight to behold, with a translucent, ethereal quality that captures the delicate nature of these mesmerizing creatures. The dome-shaped bell and detailed tentacles cascading downwards are finely structured, showcasing the intricate beauty of a jellyfish's anatomy.

Resting atop a textured base that resembles a coral or underwater environment, the Jellyfish Aquarium is brought to life with vibrant turquoise hues that contrast beautifully with the neutral tones of the jellyfish and the clear cylinder. The base is adorned with sea-life motifs, such as starfish and coral, further enhancing the aquatic theme of the piece and creating a captivating undersea tableau.

What inspired me to create the Jellyfish Aquarium was my fascination with marine life and the ocean's mysterious beauty. I wanted to capture the essence of these otherworldly creatures and create an immersive experience for viewers to appreciate the intricacies of the natural world.

The process of creating this artwork was truly unique and challenging. From meticulously sculpting the jellyfish to carefully designing the base and selecting the perfect colors, every detail was thoughtfully considered to bring this piece to life.

I hope that the Jellyfish Aquarium will inspire awe and appreciation for the wonders of the ocean and spark a sense of curiosity in those who view it. With its intricate details and vibrant colors, this artwork serves as a reminder of the beauty and complexity of marine life, inviting viewers to dive into the depths of imagination and exploration.

The Jellyfish Aquarium can set on a tabletop or it can be displayed on the electric, rotating lighted base that can display a range of rainbow colors, or be fixed on one color.

Under the Sea Themed Print

"Aquatic Harmony" is a vibrant and colorful representation of marine life, featuring sea turtles, fish, shells, and sea anemones. The background is a beautiful shade of blue, giving the impression of water and creating a serene underwater scene.

One unique aspect of this artwork is that the sea turtles, sea anemones, seashells, and fish are all created from hand sculpted paper and paint, giving them a three-dimensional quality. Each element is meticulously crafted to showcase intricate patterns and textures, adding depth and movement to the composition.

The process of creating "Aquatic Harmony" was a labor of love, as I carefully painted and assembled each piece to bring this underwater world to life. The combination of paper and paint allowed me to explore different techniques and textures, resulting in a dynamic and cheerful artwork that is sure to captivate viewers.

I hope that "Aquatic Harmony" brings a sense of tranquility and joy to all who see it, and that it serves as a reminder of the beauty and diversity of marine life. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about my artwork, and I look forward to sharing more of my creations with you in the future.

You can keep up to date with my latest paper sculptures I am working on by subscribing to my newsletter. Newsletter Sign-Up Link Sometimes I will share a glimpse into my studio for a behind-the-scenes look. ALl captured in the email newsletter.

Where Are All My Baby Sea Turtles?

I have created many different pieces and parts for my Under the Sea themed aquariums. I made sea turtles, seashells, sea anemone, sea plants, starfish, rocks, coral and lots and lots of hand cut paper sand.

I started working on this project after reading about the baby sea turtles and the adventures they must go through just to survive. Researching sea turtles really sparked my interest and inspired me to create an entire series of paper sculptures with an under the sea theme. Many of these finished pieces highlight sea turtles and their lives and some of the finished pieces reflect the beautiful under water world that exits in our oceans.

After a sea turtle hatches from its’ egg, they must work their way down the sandy beach til they reach the water. For the first ten years of their lives, scientists aren’t exactly certain where the sea turtles live. I imagine they will thrive living among the coral reefs.

I found that to be so interesting which started me on a path of creating interesting ways of showcasing a variety of different under the water scenes. I thought you may be wondering where all these baby sea turtles have gone, and how did I incorporate them into my art. Here are some close up views of the sea turtles along with the finished aquariums.

Paper Sculpted Starfish - Part Six

Starfish

Over the years I visited a couple of aquariums, some on the east coast and some on the west coast. Visiting different places, such as aquariums, different beaches, can really inspire you to create new art pieces. The best, most inspirational areas I’ve been to were beaches in California. The rocky beaches were home to sea urchins, sea anemones, a variety of starfish, teeny tiny crabs, snails and seashells. It was amazing!

Like many artists, I have so many ideas of things that I want to create. Sometimes it takes literally years, to work it into the schedule. Although, other times, I think it takes a long time for that idea to really “work” (or maybe a better word may be “percolate”) its way to the top of the list. Even though I have an idea for a series in mind, and even though I am not actively working on the project, I do think your mind is working and thinking through the project in a much more passive way, and eventually, when the time is right, the project will come forward and reveal more of itself when it is ready.

Eventually, I came up with the idea of creating an entire series of Under the Sea Themed Paper Sculpture Aquariums. This series will all have a common, cohesive look to the paper sculptures due to the fact that the sculptures will all be made inside similar glass containers.

From time to time I have made quite a few ocean themed paper sculpted art pieces. Even though my original three-dimensional brightly colored coral reef paper sculpture has sold, you can still purchase that coral reef image on a spiral notebook.

I also made a very photo realistic paper sculpture, appropriately titled, “Paper Shells”. Even the sand is made out of hand cut painted paper.

Inspired from when I would go crabbing in Maryland, ere are just a few photos of some of the blue crab themed paper sculptures I made.

So far, I’ve been making a lot of the individual pieces that will go into this new Under the Sea Aquarium final pieces. So far, I made coral, seagrass, seashells, and sea turtles all out of paper and paint.

Now I needed to make some colorful starfish. Did you know there are over 2000 different starfish species around the world in a variety of different colors, styles and shapes. Most starfish have five arms, but some starfish, also known as sea stars and can have as many as 40 arms. That’s a lot of arms! As you can tell, I enjoy researching the items that I am going to make. Those  are just a few of the facts I learned.

Above, is a photo of a very interesting starfish I saw in a beach in California. At first I thought it was a little octopus. I didn’t know that starfish could have such long skinny arms. It was so interesting to watch it move all around and in between the rocks.

The starfish I made for the Under the Sea Aquariums are very colorful and vibrant. I wanted to stick to the color palette I had chosen for all of the aquariums. Pictured below is a sampling of my color palette - magenta, purples, gold, blues and greens. Vibrant and colorful.

To create the starfish, I started out with white paper. When I liked the size, shape and dimensionality of the starfish, next I added texture to them. I also wanted to emulate the rough texture a lot of starfish have.The final step was to paint them in the gorgeous purples, oranges and golds that you can see in the photos below. The finished three-dimensional starfish are colorful and have lots of texture as shown in the photos below.

Paper Sea Turtles - Part Five

Sea Turtles

I’ve always heard many stories and read articles about the sea turtles that lay their eggs on the beaches, and then when the baby turtles hatch, somehow, they have to make their way to the beach. It is a long trek and can be a dangerous one for these little animals.

I decided I wanted to make several final images using my under the sea aquarium concept to highlight sea turtles. I want to show some of the sea turtles still on the beach, hatching out of their eggs.I also wanted to illustrate the concept of the long, difficult journey that these sea turtles have to take to crawl back into the ocean.

Now that I had an idea in mind, along with some rough sketch ideas, I was well underway to developing my under the sea series, complete with sea turtles.

I started making a couple of different sea turtles using paper and then painting them in watercolor and gouache. They are about 1” - 2” in size. I love this turtles little face!

The babies are only about .5 inches. After making these adorable little sea turtles I got to work on creating their little eggs. Below are photos of some of the turtles I made so far.

Next, I will make some colorful starfish for my under the sea aquariums.

Part Three - Under the Sea Plants

Sea-grass, Sea plants, Seaweed…

The next items I started to make for my under the sea themed aquariums, were sea plants, sea-grass, and seaweed. Some of the grasses are textured,

Textured sea grass made from hand cut paper and paint.

some are cut out of flat papers, some are cut and then twisted into different fern-like shapes to form the sea plants. Some of the plants are painted in light lime green colors, some are dark greens, some of the grasses are dark greenish blues, and some plants are very colorful and flexible.

I made a variety of plants, many are realistic and others are imaginary. After all, who really knows for sure what types of things are growing in our ocean worlds. (Did you notice the little blue crab crawled into the photo? More about this little critter later on.

Part Two - Under the Sea Paper Sculpture Series

Bright, Vibrant Colored Coral

In my previous post I mentioned I wanted to start to start paper sculpting a new series with an under-the-sea theme. Over the next several weeks, I will take you through the process I went through to come up with these new sculptures. I’ll show you some of the behind the scenes photos and some of the details of my work.

Colorful Coral

Hand Cut Paper and Paint

Last week, I mentioned I started making the colorful, textured coral out of painted paper. I started making the coral. I wanted it to look textured and colorful. Using finely hand cut pieces of paper, glue and paint, I made many pieces of coral in all different colors. I had to hang the coral up so it could dry. If I would have laid it down flat, it would not have kept the three-dimensional shape that I wanted each coral stalk to have.

I was very pleased with my color choices and the different shapes of the coral. Next, will be step three — onto the next piece — sea grass, sea plants and seaweed.

Inspiration Behind a 'Buzzy' Cone Flower Paper Sculpture

I was inspired to turn these pink cone flowers into a paper sculpture after seeing these flowers in a garden one summer. The center of the flowers are so interesting and I wanted to capture that texture using paper: delicate soft pink petals contrasted by a hard, thorny looking brown center.

I decided I wanted the finished paper sculpture illustration to fit into a shadowbox frame. I wanted the flowers to look like a flat painting at first glance, but then as you look closer at this piece, you realize the flowers become three-dimensional in the foreground. I needed to gradually bring the flower petals out of the background paper and make them pop out of the paper to bring the design to life. The spiky center of the flower would also be 3D.

I really like creating the 3D paper flowers. It feels like you are adding life into the flower as they are transformed from that flat picture to a life-like recreation. The centers were quite a challenge until I figured out a way to form the sharp center spikes.

Once the flowers and centers were completed, I felt I needed to add one more thing to the picture. What could be better than a little paper ‘Buzzy Bee,’ coming to check out these beautiful cone flowers?