They were the first colour images most medieval Europeans ever saw.

Now an Edinburgh artist has reinvented stained-glass windows for a modern, and disposable, age.

Astrid Jaekel has filled all 17 windows of Wigtown County Buildings with papercuttings showing scenes from local life - and quotes from locals in Scotland's self-styled "book town".

Ms Jaekel has based herself in the building this bank holiday weekend to teach locals papercutting as part of Dumfries and Galloway's increasingly popular Spring Fling festival.

She said: "This is a very special place. You come here and find yourself relaxing and everywhere else floats away.

"And you meet such an incredible variety of people because it is the Book Town, some are rooted here and then there are all sorts of other, often very creative people, coming in.

"I have loved doing this project and would like to extend it and create a book all about Wigtown and what life here is like.

"When I started the residency I had never been to Wigtown, so I was fascinated to interview people about what they thought about the place.

"They told me about how it had been through very hard times, but some feel it's on the way back up, partly due to the book festival."

Leah Black, Spring Fling Director, said: "Astrid's work really catches people's imaginations. It's so beautiful to see the windows, especially lit up at night, when they create an effect like stained glass windows in a church."