Pretty Paper Pictures

As I was browsing Helen Musselwhite’s delightful gallery tonight I started to realise I recognised a few of her folky forest images even though it was my fist visit to her site. That’s because they've popped up on a few other blogs before. She’s got hundreds of images, though, and I don’t think I’d seen any of these ones here. Even if any of you have already seen them they’re so charming I’m sure you won’t mind a second viewing.

You know, these have literally inspired me. I can’t draw anything more than stick figures and I’ve never ‘done art’ in my life. (By that I mean I gave it up at the start of secondary school because I had a choice between it and music. I played the guitar, you see, and thought it was really cool. Worst decision ever considering I‘m clinically tone deaf. Who thinks it’s a good idea to let 13-year-olds make these choices?)

That said, when it comes to sitting cutting up bits of paper for hours on end I’m as happy as a pig in the proverbial. And so I briefly delved into the whole paper collage thing a few months ago. Unsurprisingly, my stuff ending up looking like what a four-year-old takes home to their mammy. Seriously, ‘shabby’ doesn’t quite cover it. However, I’ve about three unfinished ‘things’ lying around that I’m now toying with trying to salvage. Practice makes perfect, as they say, though I’d happily settle for anything almost half decent.