The winner of The Westmorland Gazette summer art competition is a grandmother who took up art as a hobby a couple of years ago and visits the Lake District to stay in a caravan every other weekend.

Angie Major, from Poulton-le-Fylde, took up the challenge to depict some aspect of this newspaper as a piece of art, taking inspiration from world-renowned Cumbrian artist Conrad Atkinson who portrayed our front page as part of an Arts & Business initiative earlier this year.

Mrs Major said: "I thought the competition was really exciting and had a lot of fun doing it. But I never expected to win...you're joking."

She used the experience to learn more about computer technology, scanning in The Westmorland Gazette, for part of the image.

"I have begun to use a digital camera to help find themes for my paintings, and this helped me learn a lot."

The resut was a mixed media, watercolour and pen and computer generated piece of art, which would surely appeal to Conrad Atkinson, who also uses multi-media techniques.

Editor/Publisher Mike Glover said: "Mrs Major captured the mood of the competition perfectly, embracing a bit of fun at the same time as developing her art skills. Best of all, it made me smile."

Mrs Major, a 57-year-old mother of two and grandmother of three, is a member of Blackpool Art Society which meets once a week and organises demonstrations, talks, paint-alongs, workshops and monthly coach outings.

She says that when she comes to her caravan, at White Stones, Ayside, near Newby Bridge, she always gets The Westmorland Gazette "obviously, to find out what is going on" and was immediately inspired by the competition.

"I did the drawing for the competition in our caravan after a beautiful walk - in the sunshine for a change - in the Lakes."

Mrs Major wins £100 of arts materials, has her picture framed and has it featured in the window of The Westmorland Gazette, in Wainwright's Yard, for the Windows on Art fortnight in September.

Runner-up Mrs T. Allen, of Lickbarrow Road, Windermere, wins £50 of arts materials and will also have her contribution displayed in The Westmorland Gazette window.

The competition brings to a conclusion months of activities, in which The Westmorland Gazette has promoted the arts as vital to the economy of the Lakes.

It has received support from Arts & Business, a national organisation devoted to promoting links between the arts and business worlds, in a series of initiatives including a Tourism Matters supplement, two Handy Guides to the Lakes, sponsorship of South Lakeland District Council's Residents' Open Week and the art competition.