Christmas snowflakes

I love paper and during this Christmas seaon paper decoration can help create a festival feel in your home. I found a interesting artcle from apartment therapy that show many different ways to use snowflakes as decorations. I hope you enjoy!

http://flip.it/CRih5Z

Thank you
Janelle Washington

Free Cut Paper Art Template / Thanksgiving Pie

One of my favorite holidays is coming up this Thursday! Do you know which one I am talking about? It's Thanksgiving! A wonderful time to be with family, to celebrate all of the blessings of the year and to eat delicious food!

I am not big on cooking but I do love to bake. So to celebrate my love of Thanksgiving and baking I created a cool cut paper art template for your enjoyment. The cut paper art template is a drawing of a pie with a pie cutter with the words, Give Thanks and Eat Pie.

Please enjoy!

*Updated*

Please remember:

You can download the template for personal use only... and see how well you do with paper cut art! Free templates will be posted on the last Tuesday of each month. 


It is a jpg but you should be able to download by right clicking on the art and copying it to your desktop.

Please comment below on how you liked the template or use hashtag #WCTemplate and @WashingtonCuts on Instagram to show off  your skills!

National Museum of African American History and Culture

My family and I were able to snag tickets to visit the new Smithsonian for October 31. We were all so excited, not only to see the museum but to find all of my silhouettes throughout the museum.  We had our cute but warm clothes, our comfortable shoes, phones were charged, extra money for lunch and most importantly the tickets to get in!

The museum is very beautiful on the outside and inside! I love the outside structure because it reminds me of a paper cut out. There are several levels and we didn't get to see everything. *Tip the museum is in chronological order for the most part so start at the bottom. Take the elevator down, it will be crowded and this is where most of the traffic is located.

The bottom level covers the start of slavery and this is where my silhouettes can be found. I created two silhouettes, a male and a female for the museum so they could have a face to go with important stories that did not photo. I was so honored to see the silhouettes and to read the interesting stories that went along with them. My family tried our best to take photos of each one!

My third silhouette is located near the huge bale of cotton Labeled King Cotton. Back in the day cotton was king! The silhouette I created shows the slave bent over with the sack on their back and it shows the different weights of cotton in the bag. This particular exhibit made me tear up because of the brutalities that slaves had to endure if they didn't meet the daily cotton quotas.

The museum knew the information would be hard to process so there is a contemplation room with a beautiful but loud water fall in the upper section of the museum.

I enjoyed the museum and look forward to visiting again next year- we snag some more tickets! here are some wonderful but random photos! :) 

This is my next inspiration for a mens paper cut collection.

Free Cut Paper Art Template / Papel Picado

 I am providing a fun free paper cut art Papel Picado template! Enjoy! You can find instructions on how to cut it out here papel-picado.

*Updated*
You can download the template for personal use only... and see how well you do with paper cut art! Free templates will be posted on the last Tuesday of each month. 


It is a jpg but you should be able to download by right clicking on the art and copying it to your desktop.

Please comment below on how you liked the template or use hashtag #WCTemplate and @WashingtonCuts on Instagram to show off your skills!

First Friday / RVA Fashion Alliance - Fashion is Art Gala

I had the pleasure to partner with the RVA Fashion Alliance during October's First Friday and for a RAL- Richmond Animal League benefit. With several other local artist we showcased our photography, wood sculptures, paper cut art, leather goods, clothing, and jewelry to the masses.

On October 7, 2016 we had a preview of our collections in Richmond, Virginia at the Virginia  Interactive. This was my first First Friday and even though we didn't have that many people come through I got to meet some great artist, have good conversation, enjoy music from next door, and do something different.

I love that Richmond has come to life on Fridays and that people are out an about. When I was in college in Richmond there wasn't events like First Fridays and the city wasn't very art friendly even though VCU has an art school in the area but better late than never!


First Friday Event:

WashingtonCuts

Ali Ferguson

Desman Grain

Renee Kaelber

Isabel Edmonds

Derrick Friedline

Fox and Hound event was low key also. There was an awesome band called The Folly, there was a really good MC, great raffle tickets items, and food.

Also artist M. Jiannalone

Peace,

Janelle Washington

Creative Inspiration Board

So lately, I have been creating and cutting letters of the alphabet for a future listing on Etsy. This is something that has been in my mind to do - see older post. ( Has a great link to the history of mud cloth) I finally started on it because I was able to focus on what particular patterns I wanted to create.  I love geometric patterns that include triangles, straight lines, hexagons and dots.

geometric pattern inspiration

Here is my inspiration for some of my patterns. I have a file of patterns I created while in the fashion industry that I have used as my foundation and by combining these patterns and manipulating them in Illustrator I am able to create new patterns for my letters.

Here is what I have so far:

Which one is your favorite so far?

Peace,
Janelle

Inspiration Tuesday

What gift(s) did you have when you woke up this morning?

Peace Janelle 

Free Cut Paper Art Template / Autumn Wreath

Fall is officially here! Time to get out those light weight jackets, unpack your leggings, and for allergy sufferers like me tissues and medicine. Fall is nice but not my favorite season. I am a summer girl but I do appreciate the beautiful way the leaves change color and the coolness of the air.

To celebrate the new season I designed a new paper cut! An Autumn Wreath! Add your own beautiful red, yellow, brown colors ( tissue paper would be nice) to the back of the paper cut to have fun, then hang in your favorite room or window!

*Updated*

Please remember:

You can download the template for personal use only... and see how well you do with paper cut art! Free templates will be posted on the last Tuesday of each month. 


It is a jpg but you should be able to download by right clicking on the art and copying it to your desktop.

Please comment below on how you liked the template or use hashtag #WCTemplate and @WashingtonCuts on Instagram to show off  your skills!

Opening Dedication for the National Museum of African American History and Culture - my thoughts

Saturday I attended the opening dedication for the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC. I was able to snag tickets to the museum for October 30 2016. I was told that as a contractor I am able to see the museum during the workday but by myself. Since I can't attend during the day and I want to experience the museum with my family I am going to wait.

For the opening, security was tight. There were many road blocks so the best route was by metro and by foot, which I took.

Advertisement from DC Metro Train

During the morning program there were several important people that spoke, which I missed, but heard their speeches were very inspiring and filled with a sense of pride. 

Here is a link to John Lewis's powerful speech http://on-ajc.com/2dpKSrG

Here you can hear President Obama's  inspiring speech: http://slate.me/2czDZlT

 I did have a misty eyed moment because my brother and Aunt died earlier this year and they would have loved to have seen all of the people, to know that I designed art for the museum, to be apart of something bigger than they and to experience history- again (our first black president) in DC!

 In different locations near the Washington Monument grounds there were stages set up for performers, singers, drummers and for storytellers. My husband and I stayed at the Freedom Sounds stage to see the musical performers. 

We heard the Liberty Brass Bands, who I filmed using Facebook live: you can see here: http://bit.ly/2dpLrl6  and Sweet Honey Rock, see here: http://bit.ly/2cAV9Va

-who I have never heard of but absolutely love now!

Target had a social media stage where you could take a photo and add a story of what the museum means to you, a 360 video that could be uploaded to any social media site and a place to write and send postcards about your experience. There were also vendors selling delicious soul food, barbecue and Caribbean food. I got the fried catfish and hushpuppies and let me tell you it was sooo good!

I am very excited about the museum.  I am excited to see the artifacts and to learn about people and events that I might not know of. I love that the museum will expose us to the truths that weren't taught in school, to allow us to cry because of the pain that comes with the history and will allow us to learn and to move forward. I am exciting that I am apart of it not only because I am African American or black American but because I helped create art that will forever have a place in the museum.

This history is my history, your history and America's history.  It needs to be told, understood and felt.

If you went, what where your favorite parts of the museum?

Peace,

Janelle