Your Gallery: Lesley Nugent

Feb 12 2013

Each week the Midweek Visiter and Formby Times will turn the spotlight on a local artist or photographer. You can submit your photographs at www.southportvisiter.co.uk/yourgallery or www.formbytimes.co.uk/yourgallery. This week we feature Crossens artist Lesley Nugent...

Name: Lesley Nugent

Age: 55

Location: Crossens

Twitter: @NuggletonArt

I MOVED to Southport seven years ago and joined Churchtown Art Club to meet local people, and because I had enjoyed drawing at school.

Having not picked up a paintbrush since then, I started a huge learning curve trying to pick up techniques. Gradually, an idea of a fantasy town that I had in my head took shape and the nuggles of Nuggleton-by-the- Sea began to take form in my paintings.

A story which accompanies them is now featured on the Nuggleton Art Facebook page. When our art club had its annual exhibition last year, I was lucky enough to receive commissions which feature the clients somewhere in the painting as part of the story, and this gave me a start to launch the Nuggleton brand.

It is so much fun that clients get to choose pets and people – or whatever they want – in the pictures; a couple recently wanted to be painted in a hot air balloon, and they have fun asking visitors to their home to try and find them! I now have merchandise and a blog with a growing number of supporters. I would like to produce a children's book with some of the pictures as illustrations.