AN artist used to having her work exhibited in London and Paris has opened a retrospective exhibition in her home town of Stockton.

Doris Manning, who has lived in Hartburn, near Stockton, since 1931, only started painting in her forties.

Since then, the pensioner has become one of the region's leading artists, and her paintings of North-East and North Yorkshire beauty spots are in collections around the world.

Now, a retrospective exhibition is being shown at The Green Dragon Museum, in Stockton.

Graham Bowen, the museums officer for Stockton Borough Council, said: "It is great for us to have an exhibition of an artist of this calibre, especially with so many paintings of local landmarks."

Paintings on show are for sale and include images of Durham Cathedral, Roseberry Topping, near Guisborough, and Robin Hood's Bay, in North Yorkshire.

Mrs Manning was born in Greenwich, London, and attended art college after school.

However, she contracted scarlet fever and had to give up her studies. She did not pick up a brush again until her children had grown up.

Her work is in collections in Europe, Canada and the US.