Artist Ingrid Sylvestre is known throught the North-East as the Giraffe Lady but her latest venture takes her into the realms of footwear. She talks to Women's Editor Christen Pears.

LYING on the sofa, resting a sprained ankle, Ingrid Sylvestre looked longingly at her high-heeled boots. With her foot swollen to twice its normal size, there was little chance she would be able to zip up her favourite footwear for week or two, and her mind began to wander.

As a self-employed artist, she knew a long convalescence could damage her business so she picked up a brush and began to paint what was in her head. The result was a collection of paintings featuring exotic and glamorous boots and shoes. Stylised, sexy and almost fetishistic, they are reminiscent of legendary designer Manolo Blahnik's exquisite designs.

She worked from her settee and as soon as she was up and about again, she had them printed as greetings cards.

Ingrid is known throughout the North-East as the Giraffe Lady for her distinctive paintings featuring the long-necked creatures in unexpected locations around the region. She plays up to her image and her County Durham home is full of giraffe ornaments, pictures and printed throws and cushions. She often wears giraffe-related accessories and today's outfit includes a giraffe print belt and cuff. She's also starting to incorporate her new interest into her look

"I think people expect artists to wear something a bit different," she says, fastening a pair of bright pink plastic, shoe-shaped earrings into her ears. "I always like to wear something connected to my work but a lot of people say I'm quite unusual for an artist. They expect us to look a certain way but I've always been interested in glamorous clothes. That's where my love of boots and shoes comes from."

Her paintings are a visual love letter to footwear - vertiginously high heels, thigh-high boots and strappy sandals are all painted onto a painstakingly patterned background. She begins by designing the background and only when that is dry does she start work on the shoes and boots.

"With the giraffes, it's all very planned - it has to be because some of them are so complicated - but I don't have a preconceived idea with this. It's the patterns which inspire me."

The collection of cards is rather cryptically named Vetyver S, which Ingrid explains comes from an old nickname. Vetyver is an aromatherapy oil, and she used to burn so much of it around the house, friends began to call her Vetyver. At first, she started selling the cards at Durham Craft Fair and in art and craft shops across the region, alongside her first range of greetings cards, Lots of Neck, and her new selection, Giraffitude, which features a fashion-conscious family of giraffes.

But, as her workload increased, she began to find it difficult to market her cards. She wanted to spend her time working on new designs but travelling to different shops was taking her away from this.

It was then that she linked up with Colourstone Cards, an Internet-based company run by husband and wife team Gwen and David Cooksey. They met through a business network and the couple initially commissioned Ingrid to design a range of sympathy cards.

"We all got on really well and they asked me if I would like to have my other cards on the website. I jumped at the chance, especially as they said they would distribute them as well. It frees me up to do what I'm really interested in."

Although Ingrid will continue with her giraffe designs, she plans to do lots more shoes and boots. Customers seem fascinated by the subject, she says, some of them no doubt influenced by Sex and the City's shoe-obsessed Carrie Bradshaw. Some are even buying cards to frame and hang on their walls.

"Women have always liked shoes and we'll spend a fortune on them, even if we don't need them or they don't fit, but it's particularly true at the moment. I'm just tapping into that with my cards.

"I think the greeting card market is very interesting. It's the epitome of popular culture. If you went into a card shop, you would be able to see exactly what that society's interests are."

* Ingrid's cards can be seen at www.colourstonecards.co.uk