THE work of an internationally renowned Darwen artist has been published for the first time on the internet.

Margaret Chapman was often compared to LS Lowry, with scenes depicting Edwardian streets and iconic Lancashire locations featured heavily in her work.

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Mrs Chapman was born in Darwen in 1940 and lived in The Vicarage in the town for many years with her husband, Andrew, and four children.

Her work was noted especially for her attention to period detail, her meticulous researching of the era in respect of dress, lifestyles and advertisements of the day.

She developed her style while studying at Liverpool College of Art alongside John Lennon and now her originals, which sold for thousands of pounds in the 1970s, are available as prints online.

The website, www.margaretchapmanart.com, sells some original paintings as well and the prints have been painstakingly re-mastered.

Her son, Ivan Chapman, has developed the website.

He said: “My mother’s work is now available to be seen by everybody in this way for the first time.

“Since she died in 2000, people from around the world have been asking where they can obtain her work.

“She sold in more than 50 countries globally and so it’s great that her many fans now will be able to get their hands on a piece of her work.

“She was very successful for a few years in the 1970s and many thought that she and LS Lowry were contemporaries, even though my mother was more than 50 years younger.

“She loved Lancashire and found it an enduring inspiration for her work.

“She created many paintings of towns all over Lancashire and the north and sometimes London.

“She used to work in her home studio in an upstairs converted bedroom.

“She would usually have two or three paintings in progress at the same time and her many books about the period would be scattered about, too.

“It was a very creative environment in which to grow up.”

Margaret Chapman’s work is based in the first half of the 20th-century, however prints have now been created in the same style as hers with references to popular period features.

An example of this is a series of prints that now have Downton Abbey in the background.

Ivan added: “Great care has been taken to not make the original works look silly in any way, but it is a light-hearted addition to some of the paintings.”

The Estate of Margaret Chapman can now also be found on Twitter via @mchapmanart