How is a vytynanka born? Probably, every master has his own way. And every vytynanka, like every song or painting, has its own story.

Some are born under the impression of events or holidays, others are inspired by folk songs, legends, or childhood memories. But each of them contains a piece of the author's soul.

My carvings are a search for new ideas, new forms, new lines. A search for harmony.

Sometimes it seems to me that the cutouts find me themselves. First, a barely perceptible inner light is born, then an image, and then lines come after it. Sometimes, the soul seems to be overflowing with beauty, and it is no longer possible to keep it inside. Then paper doves and angels fly out from under the scissors, snowflakes, stars, and trees of life are born.

For me, Vytynanka is my roots. My support. My connection to my family. It is she who always reminds me where I grew up and what gives me the strength to move on.

I remember how skillfully my grandmother Marusya (May her kingdom be with her) drew and carved doves. For me, a little girl, it was a real miracle.

Perhaps that's why my first drawing was with a dove. Back then, it seemed to me that there were no rules or restrictions for creativity. It was as if you yourself spread your wings and soared upward like a white bird, connecting with your own soul.

Later I realized: vytynanka is not just paper and scissors.

This is an art where an image is born from emptiness.

Where subtraction becomes creation.

And in each carved pattern, not only the form remains, but also the meaning, purified from all unnecessary things.

It seems to me that each carving is a small self-portrait of its author. Even if there is no human face on it. In the choice of lines, rhythm, symmetry, in each carved pattern, we leave a piece of ourselves. That is why there are no two identical carvings, just as there are no two identical human souls.

Vytynanka teaches us to see the world simpler and at the same time deeper. It reveals harmony where, it would seem, there is only a white sheet of paper. It is a kind of conversation with silence, where each slit is another step towards inner clarity and that invisible beauty that seeks to be born.

And every time the pattern takes on its completed form, I feel like a new story is born.

The carving becomes like a prayer. A silent dialogue with one's own heart. Light is always present in it, even if it is carved from the shadow. After all, the art of carving teaches us: beauty is born not only in addition, but also in subtraction, in liberation from excess.

It is not for nothing that people say:

"As in a house there is a vytyanka, so is the good standing on the porch."

These simple words contain great wisdom. A vytynanka not only decorates a home. It brings warmth, comfort, and harmony. The pattern cut out of paper contains the memory of generations, love for one's native land, and faith in the beauty of the world.

This is how a vytynanka is born - in the quiet trembling of the heart, in inspiration that comes unexpectedly, in memories and dreams.

It doesn't need big words. It speaks with line, rhythm, light, and emptiness.

And everyone who picks up scissors and paper becomes a continuer of the ancient Ukrainian tradition, in which a whole world is born from an ordinary sheet of paper.

My first vytynanka