HARROGATE paper-cut artist Anita Bowerman is helping to put God’s Own Country on the cycling map as an official artist to the first Tour de Yorkshire.

She has created a special design for this week’s inaugural event, featuring 12 cyclists racing around a bike wheel. She designed it using only a pencil and compass and then hand cut it from one piece of paper with a tiny scalpel.

“I also wanted to take the design further so, together with my brother, Mason Small, who’s an engineer, I’ve developed this cycle wheel in stainless steel, which glints in the sunlight,” says Anita.

Last year, she designed a metre-high paper-cut map that showed the route of Stage 1 of the Grand Départ for the Tour de France. The original remains on display in her studio at The Dove Tree, Back Granville Road, Harrogate, and features all the landmarks, attractions, countryside, historical details and even tiny cyclists wearing their jerseys. The limited-edition map is available as a giclee print and as a laser cut.

Gary Verity, chief executive of tour promoters Welcome to Yorkshire, loves the new design. “It’s great to have Anita on board as an official artist,” he says. “Her work is wonderfully intricate and unique, and it’s a real thrill to see a piece of Anita’s work capture the essence of the Tour de Yorkshire in art form.”

Anita, who has been a professional artist for 20 years, is overjoyed at her new Tour de Yorkshire status.

“Last summer, I was inspired to create a new piece by the incredible scenes of the Grand Départ in Yorkshire, and I’m absolutely delighted to now be involved in the first Tour de Yorkshire,” she says. “It’s a real honour to be an official artist and I’m proud to be a part of Yorkshire history.”

Anita’s paper-cuts and paintings can be viewed at her studio and on her website, anitabowerman.co.uk

Stainless Steel Wheel is available as a signed and framed limited edition, priced at £350, and as a limited-edition giclee print. The 15cm-diameter image costs £30, unframed, and £49.95, framed, while a limited edition of 500 laser cuts starts at £45.

For more information on the Tour de Yorkshire, visit letouryorkshire.com