Horses are a common subject for Shou-Ping’s watercolor paintings. The original of this one, titled “Run,” is 18 inches by 24 inches. (Photo by Shou-Ping)
Shou-Ping deals in both paper sculpture and watercolor paintings. Crafted from cut and folded heavy paper, her sculptural work includes “Bamboo and Cranes,” “Blue Ribbon Irises” and “Sunflowers.”
by JENNIFER BIUNDO
Some artists try to capture the beauty of the world in the delicate lines of watercolor; others use hammer and chisel to sculpt their art in three dimensions out of materials like stone or marble.
Shou-Ping does both.
The Taiwanese-born artist has developed a technique she calls paper sculpture, an intricate process that involves drawing hundreds or thousands of small components of the sculpture, and then cutting and pasting them into a three-dimensional whole.
Shou-Ping will display her watercolor and paper sculpture at the seventh annual Buda Fine Arts Festival this weekend on the Buda Greenbelt. The free festival runs Saturday and Sunday. The ticketed Art After Dark gala kicks off the event Friday night with wine, dinner, live music and a chance to meet the artists.
The process of creating a paper sculpture is a lengthy and painstaking one, Shou-Ping said.
“In my mind, I create an intricate puzzle,” she said. “I do not just see a hummingbird, I see every detail of its tiny feathers and the movement of its body. I study the entirety of my subject and break it into individual components; then I put the pieces back together like a puzzle. The entire process becomes reality on paper.”
She uses heavy, high quality paper and draws each petal and flower individually, before cutting out the individual components.
“It does not begin to look like a flower or a bird until after it is cut, sculpted and glued together,” Shou-Ping said.
Most of her works, both watercolor and paper sculpture, try to replicate the beauty of nature. She creates images of lush flowers, butterflies and tiny darting hummingbirds, imbuing them with a swift sense of life.
“Nature is my inspiration,” Shou-Ping said. “I try to capture every component of my inspiration.”
Shou-Ping now lives in San Antonio, where she’s been creating her art since the early 1990s. She demonstrates her techniques at art schools, participates frequently in art shows and has received numerous awards for her work.
