Exploring a new hobby has quickly turned into a new career for a new local artist.

Peel-based painter Dawn Kennaugh, who has unveiled her first exhibition at the Erin Arts Centre this week, is relatively new to painting, having first picked up a brush only two years ago.

However, she quickly found that she had a knack for capturing her preferred subjects, and that others were quick to appreciate her talents too.

’To begin with, just to have a go really, with no other expectations, I drew a sketch of a hare in April 2016,’ said Dawn.

’Then my parents saw it, and were impressed with it, so much so that they went away and actually bought me a paint set, and gave it to me as a surprise at the beginning of May. And that really was the beginning of it.

’Amazingly, within the first couple of weeks, after putting my first attempts on Facebook, I started to get asked about painting commissions, and I was also selling work. Which is crazy, when you think about it. Now, it is what I do for a living.

’I do a lot of commission work through my Facebook and Instagram pages, and I post my work all over the world.

’Most people ask me to paint their cats, dogs, horses and so on. I always find now that I always have at least half a dozen paintings on my list to do at any point in time.’

Dawn has called her exhibition ’The Animal Kingdom’, and it features a small collection of fifteen of her paintings of creatures large and small, from blue tits and squirrels to lions and tigers.

Her current favourite animals to paint are puffins and hares, and there are examples of both on display, all crafted with a charming life-like and detailed quality.

’When I first started painting, I had it in mind that I would have my under the title of something to do with animals.

’Not that I thought I wanted to have an exhibition, but just to have an idea for a title of a series that I would do.

’I wanted to do this exhibition to push myself with my own work, and to make myself progress. The more you practise, obviously the better you get.

I like to make sure I get the eyes just right when I am painting my animals. The eyes are the windows to the soul, and that is true whether they are for an animal or a human.

’I like the moment when you add the little flecks of light and the eye comes to life.

’The painting takes on a whole new life after that and you know it is going to come out well.’

Dawn’s ’Animal Kingdom’ exhibition is on display until Thursday March 29.

Dawn’s work can also be seen on her ’Dawn Kennaugh Arts Facebook page, and also on her Instagram page, instagram.com/dawnykl1974