It’s really amazing how other people can be so talented that they can make something fabulous out of simple things that most of us have often taken for granted. How long is their patience to create things which deal with smallest details? And I can’t think of any word to describe how gifted this artist is.
A Colombian artist Diana Beltran Herrera has been so dedicated in her art she had turned paper sheets into colorful lifelike birds sculptures.
“By the time I started my work with birds I was in Helsinki and after creating a whole exhibition in wood, I came back to paper as a relaxing therapy, representing Finnish landscape scenes with birds. That was where this started [and] when I went back to Colombia, I started to observe local birds and represent them in paper,” Diana explains.
She has already been making paper sculptures of these winged creatures for years.
She uses photographs and her memory as a reference for the form and color of every piece.
The artist meticulously handcrafts each and every paper bird sculpture.
She starts with a structured base as the core then pastes on delicate feathers (curled and slayed once attached).
“First I do a structure in paper. I have groups of feathers for the main body, tail, wings and head I start to paste piece by piece.”
Then the beak and eyes are attached after the feathers are in place.
Finally for the legs, Diana uses wire and floral tape.
Finishing touches are then done by painting the feathers to make the model more realistic.
“For the legs I use wire and floral tape. Depending on the bird I paint each feather to get the right colour and design. Everything is hand work.”
Each model bird in Diana’s growing collection takes about 5 days to 2 weeks to be completed depending on the size and its complexity.
So far, the artist has over a hundred of species constructed.
Her collection includes colorful exotic birds such as a flamingo, a crane, a blue heron, a quetzal, plus more common types like woodpeckers and jays.
These colorful creations have already been displayed at exhibitions in the UK, the US and Colombia.
Diana has also staged a solo show in Florida.
“I love working with paper. It’s a cheap material – it doesn’t need industrial processes or expensive tools – and it is an easy material to glue, to form and to cut. It’s very delicate but once you develop some skill with it, you just need a blade or scissors and some ideas.”
For more of Diana Beltran Herrera’s works, you can visit her website.