Here’s one I did earlier..!

There are times when one gets completely stuck and frustrated when trying to finish an artwork. This silk paper cutting (Noodle Mania) focused on the joys of beef noodle soup, which on a cold winter’s day in Taipei is the perfect way to warm up. The bowls of noodles are at the centre warmed by flames from below. The steamy aromas rise and envelop the dancing boys who eagerly breathe them all in. The result of this is the Dancing Boys’ hair extending and twisting in some kind of rapturous ecstasy.

This silk paper cutting has been going on for almost a year, but somewhere along the way I completely lost interest in it. But when you spend so much time designing, drawing up and cutting out a piece it gets hard to come to terms with the guilt of time wasted.

At one point I crumpled it all up and found myself peering into a forest-like mass of silk. Hmmm, there’s potential there somewhere.

Anyway I did, at least, get some nice photos at various stages of the cutting. There’s the design drawn on the back of the silk paper. Four colours of silk paper were cut at the same time, then the image was cut up into its individual elements and attempts were made to reconstruct the piece.

Alas, by then my muse had gone and that’s the way it is right now. I haven’t given up all hope yet and the bits lie strewn around my small studio hoping that sometime soon it all might click.