Hello, I’m Tahnee
I am a paper cut artist and a mum. Two special titles I’ve always wanted to have.
I haven’t always been an artist. In 2019, fresh from our honeymoon, I made a bold decision: I left my career as an Urban Planner to follow a more creative path. What followed was an exciting season of exploration—experimenting with new mediums and discovering the joy of making with my hands.
Not long into this journey, life brought a series of profound changes: navigating the uncertainty of the pandemic, grieving the loss of loved ones, building our first home (and studio!), returning briefly to corporate work, and welcoming our two beautiful children. It’s been a full and transformative few years—one that pulled me away from art at times but continually reaffirmed how deeply I’m called to create.
Now, I return to my practice with a renewed sense of purpose and presence.
My work is rooted in intention and inspired by the quiet, meaningful beauty of everyday life. I feel deeply honoured to create pieces that can be treasured as heirlooms—works that hold memory, offer stillness, and connect us to nature, to one another, and to something larger than ourselves.
Artmaking, for me, is not only about the finished piece. It’s a mindful practice that helps me slow down and see more clearly. Through it, I celebrate memory, place, tradition, and the gentle rhythms of the seasons.
By Hand
Most artworks begins with a simple pencil drawing into my sketchbook setting the composition and helping define key shapes.
I then begin by painting individual swatches of paper with watercolour and gauche. Playing with different textures in paper and matching painterly techniques to capture the floral study.
The individual swatches are then cut by hand and dissected into smaller elements of the flower. Some artworks resulting in hundreds of individual elements.
I delicately layer each element prior to gluing, allowing for tweaks and adjustments as I go. Often informed and guided by my original sketch and reference photos.
Finally, the artwork is glued. Allowing the shadow and depth from the layered elements to be preserved.
I like to do this by hand and create my own painted paper elements as it often results in organic imperfections and impurities, not dissimilar to those found naturally in nature, and in the same way no two flowers are ever the same.