AN ARTIST who only seriously took up the paint brush in her 40s has transformed a seafront Indian restaurant.

Suzie Devey, 47, originally of Stockton but now living in Stokesley, near Middlesbrough, started painting in a dedicated way after losing her job last April and has enrolled at Cleveland College of Art and Design.

The mother-of-two's talent for murals has already been spotted and she is already beginning to pick up commissions even without trying.

Her first job was painting eight-foot high dogs at a dog day care centre in Stockton and it made such an impression she was soon contacted to paint the interior of the Sheesh Mahal on Seaton Carew's seafront.

Now Mrs Devey hopes to make a living from painting for the rest of her working life. Explaining where she got her inspiration to paint the Sheesh Mahal, she said: "I collected stamps as a little girl and still have that collection, so I looked at my India stamps and created my designs from there. I finished the job after a crazy week of painting for 75 hours and they asked me to return at the weekend and paint another part of the dining area. I'm so very, very happy. They're so thrilled with the artwork that they're going to throw a relaunch party to show it off. It was a bit strange painting whilst people were in the restaurant at first but really lovely to hear all the fab comments too...I could get used to that!"