HARROGATE paper-cut artist Anita Bowerman is renewing old school ties by making, rather than merely sending, a Christmas card.

What better way to mark her abiding association than by The Grammar School at Leeds commissioning Anita to create its seasonal card for distribution across Yorkshire and beyond.

Limited-edition prints of Anita's Christmas scene of a stag, owl and woodland creatures under a starry sky, in festive purple, are available from Anita's working studio and gallery in Back Granville Road, priced at £20.

The card, entitled Winter, A Moment In Time, took 30 hours to cut out and will be on show at Anita's studio today when she marks her third anniversary at her Harrogate premises of The Dove Tree Art Studio with an open day with a glass of bubbly and nibbles from 10am to 9pm. She will be exhibiting her latest collection of paper cuts, prints and paintings and offering a discount for one day only.

Helen Clapham, head of external relations at the Leeds school, explains how the Christmas commission came to fruition: "We commissioned Anita to create a school Christmas card because we were impressed with her paper cut of the Tour de France route," she says. "We wanted to create a card which would be striking and distinctive and also celebrate the creativity of one of our former pupils."

In return, Anita says: "I was honoured to produce the card as I still feel a strong bond with my former school." Her card concludes a year when her artistic path was paved with yellow as Le Grand Depart came to Yorkshire for the Tour de France.

Now she is celebrating her third anniversary at the Dove Tree. "I can’t believe it’s three years; time has flown as I've been enjoying myself so much," she says. "Having painted all my life, I was lucky to find this building, somewhere to work from and display my paper-cut originals, paintings and prints and teach art classes. I kept seeing doves everywhere and I paint and paper cut trees, so the name Dove Tree Art Studio was born. There is actually a tree called the Dove Tree!”

Be warned, the gallery takes a little finding, sited just behind the Cardamon Black South Asian restaurant, near the back of Harrogate Theatre on Cheltenham Parade.