THE Ickenham wife of a kitchen designer became one of Marks & Spencer’s top-selling artists for several years after an art enthusiast noticed her dream kitchen while stuck at traffic lights.

Jean Dennis contacted the designer and found out his wife, Christine Harris, was an artist.

“I arranged to go and see her and found out she had been doing murals for the children’s ward at Mount Vernon Hospital,” said Jean, of Long Lane.

“What struck me was the fantastic quality of the artwork of the flowers within the sketches for the murals.”

So Jean, a businesswoman working in art framing for retailers, commissioned Christine to do some flower painting for popular oval frames for Marks & Spencer.

Within three months, Christine’s work became one of the company’s top sellers for several years.

Christine said: “This fantastic break gave me greater opportunity to diversify in my work, receive more commissions from private clients and hold exhibitions here in the UK, the Far East and America.

“I have also illustrated a children’s book, designed and painted theatre sets and run adult art classes in the local community.”

She also now promotes her work on Jean’s website, Artists Info, which features hundreds of different types of artwork from around the world.

She paints under her maiden name of Spring and is contacted, via the site, on spring.art@btinternet.com

Christine attended St Martin’s School of Art and went on to work as painter for Academy Cards before having a break to have their two children, both now grown-up.

She went on to take art classes at St Giles Church, where she was married and both her children were christened.

Artists Info showcases a wide range of art and styles, from ceramics to jewellery, paintings and photography.

It charges artists just £49.99 a year to have up to 12 pieces of their work shown on the site, which they change when they want to.

Buyers can contact the artists directly, can commission work or buy and there is no commission charged. The price is invested back into the website for further development and optimisation.

Currently, it features around 300 artists from 17 different countries and the creators are looking for more artists.