The Night Circus and Paper Art

A few months ago I noticed a book with black pages, a pretty cover and an alluring title - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

Upon reading the synopsis, I knew this book was for me. I devoured it within a day. I'm not going to talk about it too much, there are reviews everywhere but I just suggest you pick it up for yourself. Perhaps it won't be for everyone, but it absolutely struck a cord with me, mainly for the imagery described throughout. I immediately wanted to draw or paint everything, it was all so fantastical and beautiful and just as if Erin had the same imagination as me, I loved it so very much.

So I began sketching out some elements of the book that I found particularly wonderful. The two main character, Celia and Marco, pictured above, obviously needed to be shown and I also wanted to illustrate their favourite parts of the circus - The Wishing Tree created by Celia, and The Ice Garden created by Marco. I wanted them to all be separate images that were linked together by colour and by the trees.

I have also, for many years followed in awe the illustrations and paper art of Brittney Lee and toyed with the idea of trying some paper art myself. I couldn't fathom how Brittney could create so much detail with some paper and a knife but I really wanted to give it a go.

Couple that wish with the mighty need for some Night Circus inspired art, the challenge of only using black and white paper, a new scalpel knife, a rather beaten up cutting board and some few months of working on and off and finally, I had a four part artwork that I am exceedingly happy with!