A NORTH Yorkshire artist has been named the UK's most popular selling published artist 2018 by the Fine Art Trade Guild at their annual awards in London.

Lucy Pittaway, who was official artist for the Tour de Yorkshire for the last three years, has proved popular with art lovers.

Renowned previous winners include Mackenzie Thorpe, Kerry Darlington and Doug Hyde, who have gone on to build a reputation and following across the world.

Continuing her work with Welcome to Yorkshire, Ms Pittaway's next release is called A Yorkshire Garden which will be available to view for the first time at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show from May. She has created an impression of Welcome to Yorkshire’s 2018 garden, one of the gardens at the event.

Lucy said, “It’s an absolute honour to receive this award and a dream come true. A few years ago I was reading about some of the country’s top artists receiving this award and never imagined that one day it would be me. I am hugely grateful to the Fine Art Trade Guild for their support, all the team at Lucy Pittaway, to my family and friends and to all those people who supported and voted for me”.

Louise Hay from the Fine Art Trade Guild said, “The Congratulations to Lucy on winning the Most Popular Published Artist Award 2018, sponsored by Arqadia. She's certainly lived up to the award, being hugely popular with both our website visitors, and our gallery and art retailer members. Having won the Up & Coming Artist and the New Business Awards in prior years, it's no surprise that she's taken this trophy too. Lucy has a fantastic team behind her and we wish them all continued success.”