ARTIST Debbie Ayles whose painting has been selected for a prestigious London exhibition for the fourth time attributes her success to a "great stroke of a luck".

Time Travel No.1...Viewing Platform, part of Debbie's Time Travel series, will appear alongside some of Britain's leading artists at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours exhibition.

More than 1,000 entries were submitted to the RI this year and judged by a ruthless panel of judges who gave Debbie the thumbs up.

She said: "It still feels a bit surreal as it was unexpected, but it's all very exciting.

"You never know what will happen from these things.

"The Mall Galleries is a great one to have your work in and to get an exhibition in London isn't an easy thing.

"This year I've had a stroke of great luck because I also have two solos."

The 30cm x 45cm watercolour was inspired by a P&O cruise Debbie went on.

It strikes a balance between abstract and realism, she explained, and is a mixture of watercolour and acrylic on watercolour paper.

The former Colchester School of Art student, who has moved from Mersea to Colchester, said: "I've done a lot of paintings focused on exterior architecture but occasionally, I'll switch to interior.

"This cruise ship had the most splendid stairs which you imagine Fred Astaire coming down, made of glass and marble, and the most amazing lift.

"You'll see in the painting a lift shaft goes through the middle with various floors and also the flight of stairs on the left.

"Because of the way I was looking at it, I saw a huge illumination. My work really hinges on reflections and shadows."

Debbie's depictions of Canary Wharf were also spotted and will be on display at the Crossrail Place Roof Gardens as part of the London Festival of Architecture in June.

The collection is called Dynamic City: Reflections in Canary Wharf.

"It's a really unique venue where my work is going to be enlarged and displayed among the foliage," she said.

"The other one is much more intimate at the Westminster Reference Library where I'll have four to five paintings exhibited for a week.

"Because it does take a while to get your work noticed, you have to want to do it.

"Sometimes nothing happens and other times you get valuable feedback which keeps you going."

See Debbie's painting at the Mall Galleries between April 6 and 21.