Attractive Pictures Of Paper Birds
Two Indian Artists Started A 365-Day Challenge A Few Years Ago To Create Miniature Birds Using Paper And Watercolor Paintings.
Vaishali and Nayan are two paper-cutting artists from India who spent a whole year doing their works and photographing them.
It all started as a one-year challenge until this 365-day project gradually turned into something bigger. By continuing this process, It continued to create its works until 2020, which resulted in the creation of 1000 works of art.
Vaishali says:
Every work of art starts with a simple sketch on paper. After that, different design layers are drawn on 200 GSM watercolor paper. Each layer is then precisely cut by hand and prepared for painting.
Each small layer is carefully painted with watercolor.
Finally, all the layers are added to create a 3D look for our colorful birds.
Each artwork takes about 4 to 8 hours to make, depending on the details of the birds, such as feathers and colors. Their smallest paper birds are only 0.7 inches long from head to tail.
As we witness climate change, we must change now. We want to share the beauty and importance of rare birds through our unique art. We hope people will understand the importance of all bird species and help save them.
Vaishali and Nayan create paper-cut miniature artworks inspired by nature. Vaishali paints with watercolors, and Nayan does paper cutting. These two artists love birds, being in nature, and working with wildlife. They have done their education and studies in art and design.
We will soon start our ventures focusing on different types of wildlife-related art, which we believe will further advance our skills and experience.
As miniature model makers in 2014, we started our first work together at NID.
We worked there for two years and got the courage to start NVillustration in 2015. At that time, we were constantly researching and experimenting with paper and wood and creating works of art with them. In 2016 we quit our jobs and started working as complete-time paper-cutting artists. So far, we have worked on different subjects, but nature has always been our first love and foundation. In 2018, we started our 1000 Days series to raise awareness about nature. Before paper art, we made miniature architectural models.
Our story started on a rainy day in 2017. We were at our favorite spot, a water canal near the studio, and a bright yellow bird (Golden Kingfisher) was flying overhead. We didn’t know what kind of bird it was at the time, but its bright yellow color caught our attention. We were mesmerized by that beautiful bird, just looking at it.
The next day our search to find Pari Shahrukh began and took us to different places. During this adventure, we discovered other birds, such as cormorants, woodpeckers, buchangayan, ducks, and many others. It was exciting to know that so many species of birds live around us. It is how we decided to share the beauty and importance of these birds with the world through our art.
We started our series on January 1, 2018, with a 30-day challenge, But after completing the first month, we got a fantastic result. We decided to continue this challenge for the whole year.
However, after the first year, we did not see the ability and the need to stop what we had started. We were full of excitement and passion for continuing what we had started; we couldn’t stop because many more species still needed protection and awareness. Finally, we expanded our challenge to 1000 works of art and included animals and plants. Finally, we completed our 1,000th artwork on September 27, 2020.
This collection is dedicated to our little winged friends as a symbol and act of gratitude for their immense love and support in our lives. The primary motivation of our collection is to spread awareness and knowledge about nature through art. We hope the world will also understand the importance of birds and animals in their lives and help save them.
Vaishali says about the challenge of her watercolor work:
The most challenging part of my work is to draw the perfect shade of the bird’s feathers on the tiny pieces of cut paper. We do not use a magnifying glass to paint or cut our artwork and work entirely with the naked eye.
We enjoy being able to bring these little paper cutouts to life by photographing them in their natural habitat. To photograph our paper works, we always try to find a place that complements the natural habitat of these species.
If seeing these pictures has pampered your eyes, you can visit the Instagram page of these two creative artists to see more fantastic works of paper birds.
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