Helen Musselwhite's Artwork Inspired by Nature

British artist, Helen Musselwhite does with a scalpel and paper what our minds do in a deep dream: build layer upon layer until something fantastic and otherworldly has been created. Many of her paper cut artworks are comforting and familiar, like her many forest scenes and portraits of woodland creatures (see next pages), but she's equally capable of creating eerie or grotesque figures, like with her wonderful series of skulls featured above and on the next page. Click through for more of Musselwhite's work and learn why nature is one of her main inspirations.

This and the previous face show the Joy/Demons of Creativity. Musselwhite created these for "Dance Gazette, the magazine of the Royal Academy of Dance, to illustrate an interview with Audrey Niffenegger about the ups and downs of the creative process."

On her website, Musselwhite explains how nature gives her inspiration:

As you’ll gather from my work, a lot of my inspiration comes from the British countryside. The beauty of it never ceases to amaze me and, happily, I’m well placed to observe it, living as I do just south of Manchester with one foot in the urban landscape and the other in the countryside. Walking my dog gives me the opportunity to see how my surroundings change from day to day – it’s an unending source of pleasure.

From the Woodland Animals series

From the Woodland Animals series

From the Ghosts series

From the Ghosts series

From the Ghosts series

From the Ghosts series

From the Ghosts series

From the Woodland Animals series

From the Ghosts series

From the Woodland Animals series

From the Ghosts series