Ingrid Sylvestre is making a name for herself painting giraffes. Women's Editor Christen Pears meets the artist with a lot of neck.

I'VE never met Ingrid Sylvestre but I recognise her the instant she walks into the room. The giraffe print rucksack and furry patch sewn onto her jacket give it away. In fact,other people she's never met have started to recognise her in the street. "You're the giraffe lady," they say when they spot her.

Since she started painting giraffes last year, Ingrid, who lives in County Durham, has become something of a local celebrity. Her distinctive works have appeared on Christmas cards, posters and T-shirts.

It was her driving instructor who gave her the idea when he told her she had more neck than a giraffe. She passed her test after the fourth attempt and has been painting giraffes ever since.

Before that, she painted landscapes, what she describes as "quite dark, serious work". Many of her paintings were inspired by the landscape in and around Durham City - particularly the Botanic Gardens, where her new exhibition is taking place.

"I still paint landscapes but the giraffes are taking over," she says. "People seem to really like them. I suppose they're a bit quirky, a bit different."

Ingrid did a degree in sculpture before taking a postgraduate course in art therapy. Originally from Sheffield, she moved to the North-East after visiting a friend from art college at home in Middlesbrough.

"I absolutely love it here. I've lived in North Yorkshire and Cleveland and I worked as a part-time art lecturer at colleges around the region. It suited me because it gave me plenty of time to concentrate on my own work but I think I've really found my niche now."

Ingrid's passion for art is almost matched by her love of gardening and the outdoors and, while lecturing, she managed to find time to do a National Certificate in gardening at Houghall College in Durham City.

"I have always loved doing my garden. I've always tried to create something that's paintable and because I've always made my living from being a lecturer or whatever, what I've painted has always come from the heart. It was true of my landscapes but now, even though I've got a business, the giraffes come from the heart - or maybe I should say the neck."

Each painting is so detailed, it takes around 30 to 40 hours to complete.

"Because they take so long, I always have far more ideas than I can ever paint but I do love it. I prefer to work outside if it's warm. You can often find me painting away in my car or at the Botanic Garden.

"I'm quite an extrovert person and I love being round other people. I work best that way. Sometimes, I'll be sitting somewhere just looking around and turning the people I see into giraffes. They have no idea, of course."

Soon after she painted her first giraffes, she decided to go into business, making cards, T-shirts and patches for denim jackets. One design even found itself on children's wallpaper in Chicago.

Last year, she populated the streets of Durham with giraffes for a Christmas card that found its way onto hundreds of mantelpieces around the region. "I had the idea of doing a Durham scene with giraffes for a while and then I thought about a Christmas card. It went down a storm. I had no idea it was going to be so popular. I'm hoping to do another one this year and one of Newcastle as well."

She's also planning to write stories about some of the characters that crop up in several of her works. "I've built up a little cast of characters that are starting to take on a life of their own. People recognise them now and it would be nice to tell their stories properly."

Ingrid's work is becoming well-known in the North-East. It is on sale in a couple of shops in Durham and she regularly visits trade fairs around the region. Now, as well as the new exhibition, she's produced a book Our Neck of the North - A Giraffe View of the North East.

It includes many of her paintings and cartoons, ranging from football-playing giraffes to long-necked soldiers on Hadrian's Wall. The book is backed by the Here Now campaign, designed to bring the title Capital of Culture 2008 to the North-East.

"I think part of the giraffe thing and having lots of neck is about self esteem. A lot of people in the North-East don't have very high self-esteem and they should have. It's a wonderful place. There's so much going on here and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else."

Ingrid's exhibition, Our Neck of the North, is at Durham University Botanic Garden Visitor Centre from 10am to 5pm until October 26.