A PAINTING of Hanwell Locks has been shortlisted for a national competition to find a picture that best reflects Britain.

Ealing artist Jessica Rose painted the watercolour, called Swans at Sunrise, which is one of five entries selected by home furnishings store Dunelm Mill for its Best of British Artistic Impressions contest.

Ms Rose, 40, said she thought swans were “quintessentially British”, and the setting of a misty autumnal morning added to the effect.

“I am proud of anything I have painted in Ealing, it is such a lovely borough,” she said.

“For me this is a typical Hanwell painting. To some it may just be any old river, but for me there is something special about going down to paint there.”

She only became a full-time artist in 2013, after leaving a 15-year career working in local newspapers and for the BBC.

Though she trained at Stourbridge College of Art in East Midlands for a year after school, she had a change of heart and read English Literature at Oxford University instead of pursuing fine art. 

 It was when she entered pieces for the W3 Galley in Acton and gained buying interest for most of her pieces that she saw a future in the art world.

 She said: “I am very happy to be nominated, as an artist you enter so many competitions- I am glad they chose this piece though.”