AN aspiring video games artist is enjoying a well-deserved moment in the spotlight with her work due to be shown at the Royal Society of British Artists' exhibition in London.

Lucy Zini's moody oil painting of a doorway was selected by the Arts Society North East Essex at Colchester Sixth Form College, where she completed the final piece for her A-Levels.

The 18-year-old had no idea she was being considered as one of RBA's 20 Star Students out of 272 submissions from societies across the country.

She said: "It was really quite odd but a nice surprise.

"My college had never had anyone selected so they had no idea what was going on either.

"I’ve been to the first private viewing which was at the Royal Overseas League and then it moves to the Framers Gallery, and to the RBA's big exhibition at the Mall Galleries in March.

"If someone spots my work and likes it, they could commission me or buy it. Either way it’s a cool thing to have a painting being exhibited in London."

Gazette:

Lucy Zini, now studying art at Colchester Institute

Art is in Lucy's blood as the daughter of a graphic designer and a mum who she remembers always sitting to sketch. It is no surprise they met at art college.

She said: "When I was little I wanted to be a painter so as I began to do more art at school my interest just grew. I knew it was the profession I wanted to go into."

Lucy's masterpiece, measuring 91cm by 75cm, took ten hours to finish using a mix of oil paint, to give a realistic texture, ink and fineliner pen.

It was inspired by her fascination with dystopian settings, she explained, which took her to an abandoned plastic factory in Brantham, Suffolk.

She said: "I find it really interesting when you have really beautiful buildings which have been allowed to decay.

"This factory was once thriving with hundreds of people working there and now it’s this desolate place covered in graffiti and overgrown.

"I took a bunch of photos and ended up with one where you could see the walls and this blue doorway, which is very bright but rundown, and also the hallway so I wanted to recreate that.

"The idea was to make the inside of the door really dark but done in such a way you can still see the different colours and fineliner pen then adds the detail to it."