A NORTH DEVON artist has had a piece of her work accepted for an international exhibition in London.

Elissa Frohlich of East Down is among 110 artists whose work is featured in the 10th open international exhibition by the UK Coloured Pencil Society (UKCPS) held at the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster.

More than 380 pictures were entered with contributions coming from the USA, Canada, Israel, France, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Holland and Greece. In the end 231 pictures were accepted for the exhibition.

Elissa entered four pieces of work altogether and the one that was picked was a coloured pencil portrait of her friend Nina Watkins who lives in Combe Martin.

Elissa, 41, has been doing commissions for a couple of years. She works mainly with pastels and graphite pencils.

Using coloured pencils, as she did for this exhibition, was a slow process.

She said: "It takes a long time to get the finish you require, building it up layer by layer."

She has already travelled to London to see her work displayed in the UKCPS exhibition.

She said: "I was really pleased. All the effort I put in paid off."

Initially she was self-taught, but Elissa went on to gain a diploma in pet portraits with distinction from the London Art College.