Exhibition hope for artist's portrait of 'Nanna'

Megan Hunter said her grandmother had introduced her to art as a child

An artist who gained a number of fans after posting a video of her realistic portrait of her grandmother is in the running for an honour.

Megan Hunter, from Whetstone in Leicestershire, uploaded a clip of her creating the work, called My Nanna, on social media in the summer and it was viewed more than 400,000 times within 24 hours.

The 35-year-old's painting of 93-year-old Marie, who has dementia, is now in the running to be exhibited in the Royal Society of Portrait Painters' (RSPP) annual exhibition in London in May.

Mrs Hunter said she was inspired to paint her grandmother because she had introduced her to art as a child.

Mrs Hunter, an artist in residence at Lutterworth High School, said she took the finished portrait to show her grandmother.

She said: "She loved it. She thought it was brilliant.

"She was very surprised to see it because she's got dementia.

"When I showed her, she just said 'oh, wow, it's beautiful'. She said how proud she was of me."

The painting has made it through the first round of selection for the exhibition

Lutterworth High School head teacher Julian Kirby added: "Megan is an inspirational artist.

"It's an absolute delight to have her working with our young people."

Judges from the RSPP have shortlisted the work to appear in the exhibition, at The Mall Galleries, from 8 May to 17 May, and will make a final decision on whether to accept it.