My Lifelong Love for Cut-Outs
When I was five, I would always choose cut-outs over anything else to do in kindergarten.
I vividly remember sitting at a long table, scissors in hand, with someone on either side of me also making cuts. With old safe-for-children scissors I cut out shapes on white paper. I folded the paper several times and carefully cut small holes. The act of cutting was exhilarating, but the best part was unfolding the paper and to see what it looked like. Always a surprise! I loved the outcome. I loved the process. And that memory is absolutely imprinted in my brain.
With all my heart I’ve always loved intuitive art.
Even decades later, I found myself drawn back to cut-outs. At the time I lived in Paris I was drawn to profile cut outs on black paper. Recently I’ve been immersed in studying Henri Matisse’s cut-outs for inspiration. It’s astonishing how those simple shapes, whether organic or geometric, positive or negative, can open such a rich world of shapes and color. Oh the story they tell.
For me, cut-outs are more than just an art technique. They are a way of seeing differently, of responding instinctively to color and space, and of discovering surprising forms that emerge without overthinking.
There’s something profoundly freeing about cutting directly into color, letting intuition guide the process, and trusting the shapes to find their place.
That’s exactly the spirit I aim to bring into my upcoming online class, starting April 6. Over three sessions, we’ll explore:
- Positive and negative space: noticing what surrounds the shapes as much as the shapes themselves
- Organic and geometric forms: discovering how contrast creates rhythm and movement
- Scale and composition: allowing compositions to grow naturally and respond to themselves
Whether you’re experienced in painting or new to the process, this class is about play, discovery, and seeing differently. It’s about returning to that kind of curiosity we had as children, when the scissors and paper were enough to make our hearts leap. Now I’m drawn to make the shapes significantly larger, something like Matisse’s La Piscine (the swimming pool).
I can’t wait to share this experience, and maybe inspire a few lifelong cut-out enthusiasts along the way.
