AFTER winning an art competition at the age of 14, Betty Chapman did not pick up a paintbrush again for more than 50 years.

Now, aged 72 she has launched her first art exhibition at Prestwich Library and thoroughly enjoys her hobby.

Mrs Chapman, of Well Grove, Whitefield said: "I won a competition at church for my picture but they did not send it me back.

"I decided then that I would not bother doing any more! I did a bit of art at school but nothing much."

Mrs Chapman began a career in nursing and brought up four children and it was only after having a heart by-pass operation four years ago that she took up art again.

She said: "After the operation, I was bored at home. I started off doing pencil drawings of famous people and I once took a selection of my work to one of the Grumbleweeds, Maurice Lee.

"He is an artist and I asked him if he thought I had any chance or should I forget it. He said I should continue, so I did."

The grandmother-of-four has been developing her skills at home ever since and now enjoys painting in the easy-going style of Van Gogh.

Her exhibition features her versions of some of his most famous paintings along with some well-known landmarks, such as Prestwich Parish Church, done in the Van Gogh style.

The exhibition is the first to be shown in the newly refurbished Prestwich Library and runs until January 28.