Deborah Claxton: Cut Paper = Paintings

Deborah Claxton is trained as a sculptor. This education and skill set are put to good use to foresee a complicated image in three dimension while it is still in the idea phase. Her process is impressive and totally unique.

With painstaking concentration, Deborah Claxton uses hand-cut paper to accomplish her unique masterpieces. She draws a key for each of her cut-paper "paintings" to denote color fields by number, for example, pink (1), fuschia (2), light pink (3), rose (4) and so on. This key, a vivid work of art in itself, becomes the essential map in building up her layers of the final image. 

Literally thousands of tiny bits of Coloraid archival paper are arranged to produce her image. She uses a cuticle scissor under a magnifying lens to achieve the finest curves. Claxton will double-cut an adhesive in the same shape for the verso of her tiny paper piece. When the thick stock paper is cut, the white of the paper side is exposed. The Artist goes over the white lines with the exact colored pencil.  Claxton may take up to four months to complete even one study while in the studio every day for 12 -16 hours working passionately.

To the artist, this is necessary and important work- something she feels compelled to do. To the viewer, up close Claxton's photorealistic artwork is unbelievable-  not to be missed!