In a sunlit log cabin studio nestled in her garden, Vanessa Stone cuts paper with quiet precision and creative joy in her soul. The space, named Sunnyside after her grandfather’s home, is filled with light and silence—except for the occasional podcast murmuring in the background. It’s here, surrounded by nature and memory, that Vanessa creates her distinctive collages: layered landscapes and interiors that speak softly but powerfully of grief, joy, and the spaces we shape.
“I believe in picking up a golden thread and seeing how long it is and where it takes you,” she says. And for Vanessa, that thread has wound through carpet design, ecclesiastical embroidery, poetry, and finally, paper cutting.
Vanessa’s journey into paper cutting has by far been linear. After graduating in carpet design, she was commissioned by a Soho gallery in the early 1990s to create rugs, at a time when they were fashionable centrepieces. “I loved them,” she recalls. “I designed rugs for walls, which led to banners and then ecclesiastical embroidery. But working with the rich cloth, often gold, just didn’t align with my principles in this world where it felt too expensive a material to use”.
It was around this time that artists like Rob Ryan and Beatrice Coron were emerging as paper cutters. Vanessa, already using stencils in her work, and yearning to move away, gradually had an idea. “It just dawned on me; why not cut out the textile stage altogether, make things simpler and explore where this takes me? Just stick to cutting stencils and making paper cuts”.
Paper for Vanessa offered something else, too: freedom. “I’ve always lived in small spaces. With paper, I could make loads of pieces without worrying about storage. And it’s forgiving. If it goes wrong, it goes in the recycling. True art is permission to work with something in a way that you do not feel any barriers and with paper there is a lovely sense of ease”.
That ethos, we discover, of gentle, practical, and deeply personal, runs through everything she does in a true landscape of her heart.
We discover Vanessa’s landscape collection is brimming with pieces that are not just depictions of place. They are emotional crystallisations, intuitive reflections of her spiritual connection to nature, taking her back to her childhood roots in the countryside, and the long time she spent often alone, following the loss of her mother at an early age and her older sisters leaving home. “The landscapes are pure,” she says. “They reflect my heart. It’s always an interplay between my head and my heart, you see. The countryside gave me companionship, a sense of home and a way of escapism.”
Vanessa always sketches her landscape collection in plein air, soaking in each moment as it takes her, often walking through the countryside with her pencils and pad. She then returns to the solace of her peaceful studio, where she keeps a box of painted papers she prepared earlier, ready to use once she has studied her sketches and reflected on how she will depict the beautiful colours and shapes she has seen. “It’s my deep time,” she explains.
“My connection to the natural world and so I approach each piece in a way that encourages people to be quiet and listen to their heart and the landscape.”
Her own signature quote on her website: “the quiet poetry of the landscape and spaces we shape through collage and drawing” is more than a commanding header. It’s Vanessa’s philosophy. “We’ve become disconnected from nature,” she says. “The collages are about stillness. About letting nature flow over us and we can connect to something deeper.”
While the landscapes are clearly emotionally and intuitively driven, Vanessa’s Interiors takes more of a linear form, approached as if they are intellectual puzzles. Vanessa describes them as “the most addictive puzzle I can do.” In contrast to her Landscape collection, these see the artist sketch in situ in a chosen location; a historical house or busy café, perhaps, before returning to the studio to unpick the lines and perspectives and capture the essence of the atmosphere she experienced whilst there. “It’s about my intellectual brain working out where things fit,” she says. “The more I do it, the more my head and hand are in harmony, and I also really enjoy solitude, perhaps as this is what I became used to at an earlier age”, she muses. “In a busy café, you are surrounded by a wonderful environment and the excitement of people around you, but you can still sit alone and just reflect, observe, sketch in your own silence, everything you see around you. I find it both calming and thrilling at the same time.”
Vanessa’s recent and rather intriguing exhibition “Where We Sip” began during a residency at the National Civil War Museum. In contrast to her busy days, she found solace in drawing cafés during her breaks. “I started capturing bits of cafés, then the more I sketched, the more invested I became.” She then explains how cafes were the catalyst, driving her to also explore how she could approach historic houses. “I contacted Belton House and asked to draw domestic spaces people don’t normally see. This seemed a natural follow on from cafes.”
The project grew organically, culminating excitingly in “Where We Sip”. Vanessa also reused materials throughout. “Amazon packaging, bought through ebay and from friends and family, to reflect the everyday nature of the spaces. These companies are also a part of our lives, just like going for coffee, and I loved marrying the used materials with the meaning and the form of something new. It just seemed to make sense.” And sense it did, for the exhibition was not only a huge success but the catalyst for other opportunities where Vanessa hopes to expand the series, celebrating local businesses and the communities they serve. “Supporting local is so meaningful. I want that to transcend into my art and if there is a way of depicting this through a new collection then I will.”
Something we had not touched on so far, but were curious to find out, is the connection with poetry as Vanessa’s collages often include beautifully chosen poetic fragments; a few lines that echo the rhythm and emotion of the image. “Ah yes”, she smiles. “I’ve always written poems. I loved English at school. I was rebellious, but I stuck at English and art, and poetry is another piece of my creative soul.”
Her relationship with language is synaesthetic, she explains. “When I hear music, I see colours. With words, I can taste and feel them. I love the interplay of rhythms and sounds and shapes, and this is inevitably an integral part of each piece.”
Interestingly though it took time to give herself permission to include words in her images. It has been a process of reflection and growth. Now, they feel essential. “Words are signposts to our inner emotional lives. We’re flooded with images everywhere. I take great inspiration from Edwardian posters and graphic styles, marrying image and text in a way that feels both nostalgic and fresh, hopefully creating a more profound sense of meaning and enriched experience for the beholder.
The collages are made over several days, with time to reflect and nurture each piece, ensuring a creative fluidity that embodies the meaning and captures a treasured moment. Vanessa admits she’s also a perfectionist when it comes to the prints themselves, spending hours tidying images in Photoshop before sending them to trusted printers in London and Bedfordshire. Her greeting cards are folded patiently by hand, often with the support of her husband, packed with locally sourced materials. “It’s very much a cottage industry filled with our family love,” she beams.
Vanessa also teaches workshops; not just collage, but drawing and still life also, in cafés, and community spaces, and she is trained in residencies for primary and secondary schools. Her approach is nurturing and non-confrontational. “It’s about encouraging people and praising them to grow in their own style. Everyone’s drawing style is individual, and that should be celebrated, so I give them the tools and confidence they need to be their best artistic selves.”
Vanessa’s artistic roots run deep. She grew up in a village outside Salisbury surrounded by fields and family craftmanship. Her grandfather and father were cobblers; her great grandad, a ladies’ tailor. “My family goes back to the 1500s; all tradespeople. Very embedded. The work I’d like to do with local businesses is a nod to my own roots.”
Vanessa believes firmly in positivity. I think loss has given me a drive to appreciate the life I have. It's so important that we live life in the now and really get to appreciate the nature and landscapes on our doorstep.
We all feel so much better when we get out and see wide open fields and a blue sky. Nottinghamshire has such fantastic places to walk and explore and I really want to celebrate those places through my collage work. There is nothing better than a follow a curving path and find a cosy café or pub around the corner to sit in! I am so looking forward continuing my “Where We Sip” theme by drawings interiors much closer to home.
Looking ahead, Vanessa has exciting projects on the horizon, including a Spotlight gallery exhibition in Newark and an exhibition at the Cath Ray Gallery from the 10th Jan in 2026. “I admire Cath so much,” she enthuses. “Her hub is fantastic. I’m so grateful for the collaboration and support.” She also dreams of working with musician Chris Mingells, projecting her collages, especially those with words, alongside his piano compositions. “I’d love to create an immersive experience. Classical or jazz. Anything that’s not word-based.”
Vanessa’s also exploring mixed media, gently challenging the belief that she couldn’t be a painter. “I’ve always had a battle in my mind about painting. But I’m trying to overcome that. Sometimes scissors can’t capture everything.”
She welcomes contact via email, Instagram messaging, or through the contact form on her website and has an e-newsletter for updates on events, exhibitions, and musings. Her website: vanessastoneartist.com is a treasure trove of her work that invite you to pause, reflect, and feel. We recommend you make yourself a cuppa and spend some time here.
Vanessa’s work is full of both joy and beautiful reflections of what we have lost; it is inherently emotional, reflective and passionate. Through paper, poetry and presence, she has created a quiet revolution; a reminder to listen to our hearts, honour our losses, and celebrate the spaces we shape, and above all, it encourages us to connect.
We’ll be following her golden thread…
Vanessa Stone
Artist & Illustrator www.vanessastoneartist.com
Instagram: @vanessastoneartist
Facebook: @vanessastoneartist
