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I found these images on a website called my love for you is a stampede of horses, which for one, is an awesome name for a site, I mean how can you not be excited when you stumble upon a site with such a momentous name. Anyway I digress, but I discovered this artist called Olivia Jeffries and literally had to know more about her work. You know how some art grows on you and some things just immediately grab you. This was on of those moments.

Jeffries has an obsession with using found paper to draw on, many of the images appear on the back of old book covers, record sleeves and scraps of discarded paper. Because of this, her images use a lot of white, the discoloration of the paper over time means it this pale figure stand out like ghosts on the page. She uses relatively little colour which adds to the ethereal nature of her work. They are so finely drawn and highlighted that they come at you from the page.

There is something wonderfully innocent and childlike about these images, intermingling people with paper oragami. They are both simple and uncomplicated images and at the same time, wonderfully intricate.

I love the fact that she uses old book covers, each with their own history and story and then overlaid with this is the artwork, which will in turn create a history and story of it’s own. Here figures are placed in these environments, strangers to the story that has proceeded them. The water damage and discoloration of age creates a landscape in which these figure sit, explore and interact. One of my favourite pieces is the one below draw on a child’s book, where there is a juxtaposition between a childish drawing of hornets and the exquisite representation of two women kneeling.

There is something so unique about these tiny fragments of art. There will be no reprints, it exists only within that space of forgotten paper. It has such a personal nature to it, you feel like by looking at them you’re leafing through someone else’s belongings. Which I suppose really you are, and to own a piece of her work, you are taking on someone elses posessions. I almost feel like the paper is in transition; waiting for it’s next purpose, it’s next story. It moves from book cover, record sleeve, love letter adopts it’s new persona as an artwork. Where will it’s next journey take it, how will it be re-appropriated and manipulated in the future? Constantly being passed from person to person creating a tangled history to be imprinted on the paper.

Olivia Jeffries work is a wonderful example of the amazing artists that you can find on the web. You can buy her work on Etsy and I know that is where I am heading as soon as the next payday comes around. You can find out more about her work on her website.