SHARRON Blackmore started painting properly two years ago. You might find that a bit hard to believe, given the array of accomplished animal portraits on these pages.

She injured her foot, she says, and “needed something to occupy myself”.

There had been previous, short-lived false starts. “I’ve tried several times in the past to paint, but something always cropped up and I never pushed on,” says Sharron.

“This time I was sitting in a holiday cottage and I had no option. I bought myself some art materials and off I went.”

One of those things that “cropped up” was breast cancer. Sharron, who lives in Houghton- le-Spring, says she has been clear of that now for three-and-a-half years.

This is good news, because her animal portraits – done first in pastel but now more often in acrylics and oils – are attracting a growing number of fans.

This weekend she is off to London because her pastel picture of an Irish wolfhound, which she called Gentle Giant, has pride of place at an art exhibition called It’s All About Art.

It was organised by the Society for All Artists (SAA) which encourages all people, amateurs and professionals, to paint and currently has 46,000 members.

Sharron’s dog portrait won her the SAA’s June Atherton Beginner Award 2011. It beat 5,000 other artworks to land the title which comes with £100-worth of art materials and an engraved crystal goblet.