Sarah Lake
Sarah is a self taught paper artist living in Kent. After discovering the art of papercutting over 10 years ago she became determined to produce pieces that were as life like as possible.
Every piece starts off with a photograph which is normally taken by Sarah, or one of the photographers that she works with. The next stage is to separate the photograph into layers, this is done on the computer. Each layer is then printed out in reverse onto the corresponding colour for the layer, which means Sarah has a rough idea what the layer will look like. Then she starts drawing on each piece to add highlights, removing pieces she doesn't want to show or add in more detail, then the fun starts cutting out each piece by hand with a scalpel and plenty of sharp blades. As each layer is finished it is flipped and glued. The more layers, the more detail there is in the final piece.
Sarah's aim is for each piece to be indistinguishable at a distance from a regular picture, and only when looking closely does the viewer discover the individual layers of paper.
Sarah has been donating to various charities such as The Big Cat Sanctuary and Helping Rhinos. Where pieces are sold or auctioned off to raise funds. Sarah has been lucky enough to be a finalist in David Shepherd's Wildlife Artist of the year in 2022, 2023 and 2024. She was the wings category winner in 2023.