A gran is having her art displayed alongside stars including Tracey Emin at an exhibition next month – despite only starting to draw at 60.
Talented Irene Lees, 72, only discovered her passion when she retired and decided to study art at university as a very senior student.
Since then, she has rocketed to success – scooping awards and selling her work to collectors.
The lines within her pencil pictures are created by painstakingly building up reams of tiny writing which themselves tell a story within the picture.
Irene’s work will be on show next month alongside 23 contemporary artists including Tracy Emin, Turner Prize winner Garyson Perry, Eileen Cooper and Stephen Chambers.
They are all part of the Icon exhibition at a gallery in Chichester, West Sussex between 10 September and 22 October.
Irene, of The Lizard, Cornwall, said: “When I was 60, I went to university to do drawing and applied art.
“I wasn’t an artist as such, and I went paint – but discovered I could draw.
“I was the oldest student in my class and in the university. The youngsters were brilliant though.
“I showed them things I knew and they showed me things they knew how to do.”
By Tom Bevan
