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InspirationArt & Culture

Old magazines get ripped apart to create stunning recycled paper art

Danielle Vaughan is a force to be reckoned with. Based in Leicester, she trained as a shoe designer and teacher, and home schooled her own four children whilst raising 36 puppies for guide dogs, before she threw herself into her art full-time. First she tried acrylics and oils, but as she's already a messy artist she needed to find something a little tidier as well as reflecting her own personality. And as she's an avid recycler, she came up with the idea of using old magazines and ripping the paper to create her very own colour palette.

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A puffin made from collaged pieces of torn magazine pages in shades of blue, white, black and orange, with seaweed and coastal elements

Hence, this beautiful series of recycled paper art. She explains: "I like to use pattern and colours in my work. Obviously using recycled magazines means you get text in the pictures too, sometimes this is a deliberate voice on my behalf to say something, i.e. a highland cow I have created is composed from vegetarian recipes or A knickerbocker Glory (titled Knickerbocker Gory) has an article about female genital mutilation when you look closely, but mostly I like the randomness by not selecting the words and then being surprised by what turns up in the images."

I'm astounded by the level of detail in Vaughan's work and wonder just how long it takes to compose such clever artworks from ripped up bits of magazine pages. You can enjoy wondering the same thing, if you head over to her website at dvaughangallery.com.

Via direct submission

Colourful recycled paper flowers in a striped vase created from torn magazine pages, displayed against a studio wall with pinned artwork and fabric samples
Collage artwork of bare trees with pink foliage and purple trunks, created from torn magazine pages and printed text layered on a pale blue-green background.
Collage artwork of a hare's head created from torn magazine pages in shades of blue, black, white and green, layered to form the animal's features and long ears.
Recycled paper collage artwork depicting two blue whales made from torn magazine pages, featuring text, patterns and bright pink and black accents against a green layered background
Collage artwork of a hare composed from torn magazine pages in warm and cool tones, surrounded by stylised plants with snowflakes on a turquoise textured background
Collage artwork by Danielle Vaughan composed of torn magazine pages arranged to create stylised flowers with stems and leaves in blues, purples, greens and earth tones
Collage portrait of a woman's face in shades of blue and turquoise, composed of torn magazine pages and text by artist Danielle Vaughan
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