A TALENTED local artist will be swapping her desk job at the council for an art gallery in Spain this summer.

Lisa Ashcroft, from Fulwood, has been picked by a gallery in Barcelona to spend two weeks working with six other artists from around the world.

Lisa, who works at the housing advice department for Preston City Council, said: "I was selected from 1,000 artists.

"It was quite tough to get awarded an outing to Spain because it goes on merit."

Lisa who describes her latest work as contemporary, humorous, abstract and vivid, said: "I have been interested in art ever since I've been able to walk.

"I got the interest from my Dad, who was into art. And I knew that I wanted to go into it too."

And she's hoping the trip will provide an inspiration.

"My main talent is sculpture," she said. "So the trip should help to revitalise my work."

Before she jets off in July Lisa is holding her first ever local exhibition, at the Harris museum and art gallery in Preston where 16 of her paintings -- together entitled The Big Honeypot -- will be on display until April 20.

But Lisa, who has just passed the first year of a teacher training course, is used to winning awards for her work. In 1999 she was picked as the winner of a fine art fellowship, taking her to New York for a month.

In the mean time, she is spending all her free time concentrating on her art work. "My nights are totally taken up by art," she said. "As soon as I get home from work, and then my weekends too!"