Olivia Rawnsley

Why add Olivia Rawnsley to your collection?

Olivia’s works are intricate, delicate and incredibly unique. Hand cut from paper Olivia spends hours meticulously removing tiny sections of paper to create one final image.

About Olivia’s Work

Olivia works primarily with paper, scalpel and acrylic ink. Each individual work is cut by hand with a scalpel from one continuous sheet of paper, as negative space is removed and only the positive remains to bring the image to life. Often there are multiple layers of cut out imagery and each piece once cut is hand painted to create a vivid and bold depiction of nature. A strong focus within Olivia’s work is British trees and woodlands and a recent series explores the bare trees of Britain in winter. Incredibly intricate and detailed these works are first cut from paper and then hand painted in black Indian ink.

In other pieces Olivia closely examines flora and fauna to create bright and vibrant paper cut works. The framing of each piece is essential as it compels the viewer to not only investigate the artwork but how it interacts with light and the space around it. Framed between two pieces of glass the artworks cast shadows that move and change with the time and light of each day.

Styling Ideas

Olivia’s unique and intricate style is perfect for modern and contemporary interiors. The level of detail within each work ensures to captivate viewers and make an impact on their surroundings. Olivia’s subtle and tasteful use of colour lends itself well to those preferring a more subtle colour palette within their home. However her use of layering and intricacy also pairs well with a more maximalist aesthetic.

About The Artist

Born in London in 1991, Olivia has been drawing and making since a young age. She studied at the University of Arts London, (Wimbledon), where she began developing her unique paper cutting practice inspired by nature and the photographs she takes.

Olivia’s paper cutting process;

It is the process of paper cutting that drew Olivia to paper cutting and is why she continues to pursue it today. Each artwork is based on photographs and ideas that Olivia has taken, she then draws from them to work out the composition before scaling those drawings up to create the paper cut out. Often the drawings are only sketched and a lot of the final decision making happens whilst Olivia is cutting the paper. Olivia will have an idea and a vision of how the work should look but it is only at the last moment when the work is fully mounted and framed that she will know how it has turned out. This creates an element of suspense in the creation of the work right up until the final moment. The paper cutting takes many hours of meticulous dedication and care. On average an A2 cut out will take approximately 150 hours to complete. Whilst to many it may seem laborious to sit and continuously and meticulously remove tiny sections of paper with a scalpel for Olivia it is almost a meditation. There is a huge amount of satisfaction in slowly removing paper piece by piece and witnessing the image emerge.