A talented artist had a lifetime’s ambition fulfilled when it was announced her portraits are to hang at a top London gallery.

Jenny Forrester from Bredgar will have three works on display at the Royal Society of Miniature Painters Sculptors and Gravers exhibition.

It takes place at the Mall Galleries near Buckingham Palace. Jenny, 73, of Rookery Close, said confirmation of her selection for the show has yet to sink in.

She said: “I could burst I’m so pleased. This is the first time I’ve ever forwarded any of my work to an exhibition like this.

“I’m over the moon at being accepted - I’ve been on cloud nine ever since.” Having been painting for “years and years”, Jenny said she turned her hand to miniature portraits in 2010.

A trip to Hastings in April provided the inspiration for the work which will go on display in the capital.

She took a picture of some fishing boats and reproduced her version of the vessels in 3ins by 4ins form.

Each painting took six months to complete, but the painstaking creativity paid off when she learned her mini-masterpieces were bound for public viewing last Monday.

Her work will join nearly 700 pieces from across the country at the exhibition which will be officially opened by former MP Michael Portillo on Wednesday.

Jenny, a long-standing member of Newington Concert Party, said outside influences persuaded her to submit the paintings.

She said: “I wouldn’t have put them forward unless my art tutor had said they were likely to go through.

“You need incredible patience for miniature painting, and although I was always top of my art class at school, I never thought my work would go on display in London.

“It was my friend who checked the society’s website and told me I’d been accepted. I think my first words were, ‘oh, my god’.

• The exhibition runs at the Mall Galleries until Sunday, October 27.