Artists Challenge Themselves To Create Miniature Birds For An Entire Year

Do you like to watch birds? I do. There is something so peaceful and natural about seeing them fly around in the sky. But what you may not know is that many of these birds are in danger of becoming extinct. That’s why it’s so important for all of us to conserve bird species. Every little bit helps, and by taking a few simple steps, we can make a big difference for these animals.

Vaishali and Nayan are paper-cut artists in India. Many years ago, they started a one-year challenge to create miniature birds using paper and watercolor paint. They did it every day for the entire year.

Then, the project grew into something bigger. They continued their series until 2020 after 1,000 artworks had been created.

The creative process starts with a simple sketch on paper. Then, different layers are traced from the sketch on 200 GSM watercolor paper. After that, each layer is hand-cut and ready for coloring. Each layer is painstakingly painted with watercolors until finally, all the layers are assembled to form the 3-dimensional look for the tiny colorful birds.

Each artwork takes around 4-8 hours to complete, depending on the detail that needs to go into each piece, such as feathers and colors. The tiniest birds only measure 0.7 inches in height from head to tail.

Through their artwork, they hope to showcase the beauty and significance of rare birds. Vaishali does the watercolors, and Nayan does the paper cutting.

The pair will soon start their ventures focusing on different types of art related to wildlife. Before paper art, they used to create miniature architectural models. They got their first job together in NID as miniature model makers in 2014. After a couple of years, they left to start working as full-time paper-cut artists.

Although they’ve worked in many different genres, nature has always been their first love. This prompted their first 1000-day series in 2018 to help raise awareness about nature.