A MALPAS painter was recently the wildcard for an esteemed art programme by Sky TV.

Naomi Walker, a 49-year-old mum and head of operations for Oxbury agricultural bank, is a ‘part-time’ artist from Malpas, who on a whim decided to join the SkyArts’ Landscape Artist of the Year.

Naomi applied for the programme - which asks artists to paint a particular landscape in just four hours - but was invited to be part of the Wildcard section of the series.

She was thrilled to push herself and see where her creativity would go, as she’s never painted buildings before – her focus mainly being seascapes.

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Naomi said: “I wanted to challenge myself, to give myself the confidence I could do it, and a little bit of validation.

“The biggest challenge for me was to see if I can do it in four hours, and also I have never painted buildings before.”

The 49-year-old really enjoyed her time on the show and said it was exactly what she was looking for.

The location she was based in was The Royal Abert Dock and The Liver Building in Liverpool.

“It was beautiful,” she added. “Very out of my comfort zone but I really pushed myself.”

The show also gave Naomi the opportunity to connect with other artists.

She said: “I had the people that were there on the day reach out to me and we’ve been chatting.

“It boosted my confidence quite a bit.”

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Naomi was also a cake artist for a while, and said that it amazed her how much she could do with her art.

“When my children were born, I left my job and took some time out.

“For my son’s birthday I did a cake and I thought wow I like it. So I realised I can use my love for art and bring it to the cake world.”

Now three of Naomi’s paintings have been displayed at The Lion pub in Malpas, and are up for grabs.

Bethan Rose-Bailey, general manager of the pub, said they have lots of local and international art on display, and they love to support the local painters’ community.

Whitchurch Herald: One of Naomi's paintings at The LionOne of Naomi's paintings at The Lion (Image: Naomi Walker)

She added: “Naomi approached us, and our building is quite artsy.

“She came to see me as she thought they would fit in quite nicely and they are beautiful, so we were very happy to have them up.

“Our walls have gotten a bit full now, but if more paintings get sold we invite any artist in the area to come to us and see if we can display their work.”