The Joy of Paper

Expressing yourself artistically isn't just about pencils, paints and clay. As you'll have seen on this blog, there are plenty of people who create brilliant art using all manner of media or even found or recycled objects. And what could be more commonplace than paper?

One form we're probably all familiar with is Papier-mâché. I'm pretty sure most of you made something from old newspapers and glue as kids. To be honest, newspaper is pretty much the worst paper you can use. But it is cheap (or even free) and is readily available. Far better is printer paper or kitchen roll and you can create great things with it ... and a sachet of wallpaper paste. Peter Rush, for example, makes amazing portraits and life-sized figures:

Meanwhile, the always hilarious Joe List runs a site called The Annotated Weekender where he doodles all over the Guardian newspaper's Weekend magazine. Brilliant art and all you need is a pen, a magazine and a sense of humour.

And then there are the more serious attempts to use simple paper as an art medium. Some of the most extraordinary work is produced by people like cutter and folder  Peter Callesen, multi-coloured abstract artist Jen Stark, 3D illusion paper folder Simon Schubert and book sculptor Brian Dettmer.

Fancy seeing more of their work among a full 100 images of some of the very best paper art? Then click here. And be inspired!