"I usually start my pieces with sketches,  sketched on site and from my imagination. If the piece is from existing buildings or homes, I will take the photos on site, if possible, or ask the client for photos. I will show the client the composition, make adjustments, and then start cutting! In the case of the two huge pieces for The Spire in midtown Atlanta, I drew charcoal sketches at roughly a tenth of the scale, then enlarged each sketch to the exact size of the piece. From this enlarged drawing, I will lay out the buildings and start cutting! The sketch in all cases acts as my "template" which I cut the paper from. I am constantly resizing the cut pieces and going back and forth to get the perspective as accurate as I can. I don't construct any pieces with a measured perspective, I just eyeball everything (quite the opposite from a trained architect's way of working!). The images on this page show the process of putting together some larger pieces. The Spire pieces were each 4' x 8' and are of the downtown and midtown Atlanta skylines."

- Christina Lihan